Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and his husband earned $152,643 last year, according to income tax returns released Tuesday by the South Bend, Indiana, mayor.
Buttigieg released 10 years of returns, which has become standard for many of the candidates for the Democratic nomination. He filed jointly with Chasten Glezman, whom he married in 2018, and the couple reported income from Buttigieg’s mayoral salary and Glezman’s job as a middle-school teacher. The couple took the standard deduction and paid $20,136 in federal taxes for an effective rate of about 13 percent.
In 2017, Buttigieg reported total income of $135,013, including $24,975 from a deal to publish his book, “Shortest Way Home,” which was released this year. In 2017, prior to the Republican tax overhaul which increased the standard deduction, he took itemized deductions and reported giving $765 in charity.
His income puts him among the least wealthy of the Democrats who’ve released their returns as they run for the chance to replace President Donald Trump after the 2020 election.
Buttigieg, 37, who started as an underdog in the 2020 Democratic race, has seen an uptick in support in recent weeks and he’s now competing with several other contenders for third place in the 20-candidate field behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. He raised $7 million in the first quarter, eclipsing some of the better-known candidates in the race.
He supports some of the progressive proposals that have surfaced in the Democratic primary race, such as expanding the Supreme Court and doing away with the Electoral College. But he’s kept some distance from others, such as “Medicare for all” and a guaranteed income for the working class.
Buttigieg has been mayor of South Bend since 2012, and would be the youngest and first openly gay U.S. president. His northern Indiana community of about 102,000 people is best known for the nearby University of Notre Dame.
