Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer earned nearly $1 billion in taxable income over the course of nine years, according to a summary of tax returns he released Thursday. He spent nearly $366 million during this period on political efforts, including calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
Steyer, who made his fortune as a hedge-fund manager, entered the presidential race in July and pledged to spend $100 million on his campaign _ leading to criticism by rivals that he was trying to buy the Democratic nomination.
The 2,683 pages of tax returns Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor made public offer a glimpse into their wealth, and come a day after he failed to qualify for the Democratic debate in September.
The returns include the final four years Steyer was the head of Farallon Capital Management, a high-risk investment pool for big investors that he founded.
Steyer earned $156.8 million in taxable income in 2012, the final year he led the firm, according to the summary of the returns written by Steyer's campaign. It was the largest annual income he earned between 2009 and 2017. The smallest, $42 million in 2009, came during the Great Recession.
Over the course of that time, the couple's effective tax rate varied between 25.7% and 51.4%, according to the summary. They paid a total of $405.3 million in federal and state taxes.
The couple, who have pledged to give away most of their wealth in their lifetime, donated $190 million to charity during those nine years, according to the summary.
Prior to becoming a presidential candidate, Steyer was an environmental and political activist and one of the Democratic Party's largest donors. He gave $366 million to candidates, committees, ballot measures and two groups he founded to fight climate change and call for Trump's impeachment. His spending peaked during the 2016 election, when he spent $139.6 million on political efforts, the summary said.
Steyer, who is worth an estimated $1.6 billion according to Forbes, has flirted with running for office in California for years, but never did.
Earlier this year, he announced he wasn't running for president before changing his mind in July. Since then, in an unsuccessful effort to reach the polling threshold to qualify for the September debate, Steyer outspent his Democratic rivals on television and digital advertising.
