Some candidates in PA 13th release tax returns, some don’t

    Two of the four Democratic candidates in Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional district, State Rep. Brendan Boyle and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies have released five years of tax returns. One candidate, State Sen. Daylin Leach provided only one year in response to my request, and physician Valerie Arkoosh declined to provide any.

    In a statement the Arkoosh campaign said it is “looking into” the possibility of releasing returns , but is focused on the campaign for now. Leach campaign spokesman Aren Platt said only his 2012 return was readily available.

    Boyle volunteered five years of returns some time ago, and last Monday I asked the other three candidates if they were prepared to follow suit. Neither Leach nor Arkoosh indicated they would provide more returns given more time. If they decide to, I’ll share them here.

    A summary of the information on those returns are detailed in the chart below, and you follow the links to see the returns themselves. The Boyle family’s wages and salary jumped from about $60,000 to $135,000 after he was elected to the legislature in 2008.

    Margolies, who heads the non-profit Womens Campaign International reported annual salaries ranging from $116,000 to $151,000 from 2008 through 2012, and she paid over 20 percent of her adjusted gross income in federal taxes in each of those years.

    • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

    Leach’s 2012 return reflects only his state legislator’s income of just under $79,000, since he did not file jointly with his wife. In a separate federal disclosure statement required of Congressional candidates, Leach reports assets of over $3 million belonging to his wife.

    Leach said in an interview last week that he has no access to his wife’s assets and that they file separate tax returns, though they did file jointly in the past. The subject came up because Boyle began running a TV ad saying he was running against millionaires. Leach said he isn’t, and that his wife is “none of Brendan Boyle’s business.”

    Arkoosh’s candidate disclosure statement also indicates assets of well over $3 million. The statements don’t reveal a candidate’s net worth, since it only requires candidates to disclose a range of value for assets listed. For my calculation of both Arkoosh’s and Leach’s wife’s assets, I used the minimum value of the assets in the range reported. You can find those federal disclosure statements at this site – just search by name.

    You can see a summary of information on the tax returns that were provided in the chart below. You see the actual returns at these links:

    Boyle’s returns 2008-2012

    Boyle’s Itemized Deductions 2008-2012

    Margolies 2008     Margolies 2009    Margolies 2010 Margoliges 2011         Margolies 2012

    Leach 2012

    You can

    Year Wages-Salaries Adjusted Gross Income Charitable Gifts Federal Tax
    Brendan Boyle
    2008 $60,189 $32,584 $295 $738
    2009 $135,135 $121,850 $2,021 $13,524
    2010 $140,942 $123,845 $7,573 $9,767
    2011 $147,393 $145,490 $3,768 $15,519
    2012 $147,728 $146,195 $6,419 $16,316
    Marjorie Margolies
    2008 $147,983 $187,737 $4,450 $41,527
    2009 $149,339 $195,489 $2,600 $43,794
    2010 $116,101 $171,851 $7,500 $36,084
    2011 $151,400 $195,221 $2,320 $43,667
    2012 $131,753 $180,583 $10,045 37,590
    Daylin Leach – provided one year
    2012 78,874 78,874 $0 10,449
    Valerie Arkoosh – declined to provide returns

    WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

    Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal