Pritzker, first lady report $2.2M in taxable income

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois first lady M.K. Pritzker reported earning more than $2.2 million in adjusted gross income last year — about $16 million less than the billionaire couple reported in 2021.

Pritzker’s campaign on Friday released partial 2022 state and federal tax returns, which also showed trusts benefiting the governor paid $7.2 million in Illinois taxes and $42.3 million in federal taxes.

The Pritzkers’ tax returns have varied year to year based on the distribution of trusts benefiting the Democratic governor, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune.

Pritzker’s personal taxable income has dropped since he took office in 2019, largely because of those trusts. Just before taking office, Pritzker placed the bulk of his investments into a “blind trust,” meaning he would still make money off the investments but would be removed from decision-making and from managing his personal assets.

The Democratic governor — worth $3.5 billion according to Forbes — ran the private equity firm the Pritzker Group with his brother until 2017. He is ranked 326 on Forbes’ 2023 list of America’s billionaires. While his taxable income has decreased, his net worth has increased since taking office.

Forbes also ranks the Pritzkers as the ninth richest family in America.

Last year, he reported earning more than $18.5 million in adjusted gross income — a bump from the $5.1 million the billionaire couple reported in 2020.

Pritzker has poured $323 million into his two campaigns for governor. Last year, he also raised eyebrows after giving $24 million to the Democratic Governors’ Association, which in turn ran ads to meddle in the Republican primary.

In 2018, Pritzker broke records when he churned $171 million of his fortune into his 2018 bid to oust then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, a battle that went down as one of the most expensive gubernatorial races in American history.