Lamont’s 3-year tax returns show nearly $26M in investment income

HARTFORD — Gov. Ned Lamont made $26 million in the three years from 2017 through 2019 and donated $3.1 million, according to the governor’s tax returns released Thursday.

Lamont had an adjusted gross income of $7,777,730 in his 2018 filing for the 2017 calendar year; $10,148,158 for the 2019 filing and $8,028,351 in 2020. On the threeyear AGI of $25,954,239, he paid $5,564,636 in federal taxes, $1,873,618 in state taxes and $3,135,750 to a variety of charities, from Harvard College, his alma mater, to the Greenwich Library in his hometown, Phillips Exeter, his prep school and the Normal Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.

In 2018, he made $194,567 in taxable interest, compared to $300,153 in 2017 and $359,527 in 2019, according to cover sheets of his recent tax filings made available to state reporters on Thursday, as he gears up for a reelection.

The three years of filings 2018, during his successful campaign, 2019 and 2020 - reflect the Democratic governor’s generational wealth, dating back to the 19th century when his greatgrandfather, Thomas W, Lamont, was a top adviser to New York banking legend J.P. Morgan. It is still generating seven-figure annual incomes for the governor, who also has large real estate holdings in Litchfield County and Maine.

And Lamont’s filings, which reporters were allowed to review but not take photographs of, do not include his wife, Annie Lamont’s substantial income as a venture capitalist.

The returns included twopage cover sheets, including interest income, capital gains, dividends, deductions and other

general numbers for both the IRS. There were multiple pages of the state Department of Revenue Services filings as well.

There are no details on the sources of particular income streams and trusts, which are on file with the Office of State Ethics and include the businesses of Annie Lamont.

The peek at his finances was similar to an October, 2018 event during the height of his first campaign, around the time that Republican Bob Stefanowski released he and his wife Amy’s tax returns. Stefanowski lost the 2018 race by about 44,000 votes and he is the presumptive GOP candidate again this year.

Jake Lewis, communications director for Lamont’s reelection campaign, said the governor has applied for an extension in filing his 2021 taxes, which were due last week. He stressed that the governor led the state through a historic pandemic, while enjoying record budget surpluses.

“Releasing his tax returns, as he did in 2018, is about being transparent with Connecticut residents, and they show that he has both paid substantial taxes and made meaningful charitable contributions each year during his first term in office,” Lewis said in a statement. “We look forward to Bob Stefanowski releasing his returns, releasing the list of clients he retained since his last run for governor, and showing the world what he earned while leading a payday loan company.”

Stefanowski, who owns LoLo Consulting LLC, which operates out of his home on the Post Road in Madison, in a brief statement incorrectly described Lamont’s filings as a “one-page summary” of the governor’s finances.

“There is no itemization, no disclosure, and nothing to report Mrs. Lamont making millions from taxpayer-funded COVID contracts,” Stefanowski said in a statement. Stefanowski and the governor have clashed ove rthe extent to which Annie Lamont might have benefited as a minority investor in a medical company that was involved in COVID testing.

“His attempt at transparency is laughable,” Stefanowski said. “Rather than doing this twice, my wife and I are going to release our joint return all at once and include 2021. On behalf of the taxpayers, I implore the governor to come clean on how much money his family has profited off Connecticut taxpayers.”

After Stefanowski issued his statement, Lewis, Lamont’s spokesman blasted the challenger.

“Bob’s comments are completely and wittingly false, and a desperate attempt to hide his own lack of transparency and distract voters from his truly extreme policies, his support for Donald Trump, and his past as the head of a payday loan company,” Lewis said. “Neither Mrs. Lamont nor the governor has profited from SEMA4 and any claim to the contrary is a lie. Bob is lying about these issues because he personally made millions of dollars profiting off of vulnerable people, trapping them in a cycle of poverty and debt through his payday loan company while outsourcing jobs. It’s shameful.”

During a recent state campaign disclosure, Stefanowski reported that he loaned his campaign $10 million, while Lamont wrote direct checks totaling $1.1 million that he cannot recoup. Lamont spent about $15 million of his own money in winning the 2018 election.