Branstad releases 2012 tax information

Gov. Terry Branstad made public his income tax returns Friday, showing that he and his wife earned $226,728 and paid $28,182 in federal and state taxes.

Both figures were up from last year, when the Branstads reported $190,472 in earnings and $24,088 in tax payments.

“This is an annual exercise that we go through. Every year that the governor has served as governor, he has made it a practice to release his tax returns from the previous year in an effort to promote transparency and openness in his office,” said Branstad's chief of staff, Jeff Boeyink, who met with reporters to discuss the 89-page document.

“I would suggest that the size of the return is an editorial comment on the complexity of the tax code, but we can have that conversation some other day,” added Boeyink, who noted that the release of a two-page summary and brief access to the governor's tax documents is voluntary and not required of elected office-holders.

The largest share of Branstad's income was the $121,188 salary he earned as governor after pre-tax deductions for health insurance and retirement. He also collected $69,052 in capital gains related to investments in Liberty Banshares, Iowa, Inc., $53,480 in pension income from his four previous terms as governor, and $22,583 from business and consulting income that carried over from years before he started his fifth term in January 2011.

Branstad paid $20,614 in federal income taxes, $7,568 in state income taxes, $4,624 in Social Security taxes and $1,862 in Medicare taxes. His total tax bill was $43,122 in federal and state payments, and he is getting a refund of $12,120 from the federal government and a refund of $2,770 from the state.

Branstad and his wife, Chris, made $30,729 in charitable contributions last year, according to the tax returns. That represented about 13.5 percent of the first family's adjusted gross income. In addition, the Branstads contributed $14,875 to college savings plans for their grandchildren.

Jamie Ward, Branstad's West Des Moines accountant, said the governor continues to collect money from the 13 rural buildings he owns around the state that are being rented and used as local Postal Service facilities. That income amounted to about $54,000 in 2012, but those earning were offset for tax purposes with losses related to his Liberty Banshares investment.

Branstad, who owns less than 1 percent of the shares in Liberty Banshares, was able to claim in 2012 some portion of the significant passive losses that the sub-chapter S corporation has experienced to offset passive gains but not ordinary income on last year's returns, Boeyink said. The passive losses allowed for the 2012 tax year are $106,000, and the “un-allowed” losses that can be carried forward are $515,000, he told reporters.