Three Democrats release tax returns

The gubernatorial primary is in a little more than a week away and the Democrats seeking the office have (mostly) shared their tax returns for the past three years.

One exception is former Congressman and Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich, who said he’s asked for an extension to file his 2017 taxes. His campaign said it will share his earlier returns next week.

Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill is a partial exception. He disclosed just his most recent return, saying the totals from the previous years were similar.

The Dispatch asked the gubernatorial candidates late last year if they were willing to show the public three years worth of income tax filings. The paper requested the actual forms once last week’s tax-filing deadline passed. Cordray O’Neill

Perhaps the most interesting filings belong to Richard Cordray, who directed the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until late last year.

Of the three years he provided, his income was by far the greatest in 2016, when he reported receiving $ 434,585. In addition to the $306,334 in wages earned by Cordray and his wife, Margaret, the candidate reported $ 126,000 in capital gains. They came when Cordray decided to cash out of his equity funds because the election of Donald Trump to the presidency made him worried about the country’s economic future, a Cordray press aide said. The economy actually has continued to grow since Trump’s election.

That year, the Cordrays paid $114,812 in state and local taxes, or 26 percent of their income.

Their charitable contributions totaled $62,465 over the three years for which they released returns.

In 2015, the couple made $353,941 and paid $94,108, or 27 percent, in taxes. In 2017, their income was $297,667 and their taxes were $69,489, or 23 percent of their income.

State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, a workers’ compensation lawyer from Boardman, and his wife, Margaret Potts, a nurse anesthetist, reported wages of $216,788 last year and little additional income. Schiavoni received $73,041 as a state senator in 2017. They paid $35,049 in federal income taxes, a rate equivalent to 16.9 percent of their gross adjusted income.In Schiavoni 2016, the couple reported $235,101 in wages and paid $44,317 in taxes, a rate of 18.7 percent. In 2015, their wages totaled $216,788, on which they paid $37,611 in taxes, or 17.4 percent.Their charitable contributions totaled $1,199 over the three years.

O’Neill, who resigned as an Ohio Supreme Court justice to run for governor, only provided his tax forms for last year.

It showed O’Neill, a former U.S. Army officer, collected $146,263 in wages, $90,429 from pensions and $18,152 in Social Security benefits for a total of $254,844. He listed no interest or dividend income.

He paid federal income taxes totaling $50,189, a rate of 19.7 percent. He reported $960 in charitable contributions.