10 years of tax returns

Pete Buttigieg releases 10 years of tax returns

The Democratic presidential contender and his husband earned just over $152,000 in 2018.

By ELENA SCHNEIDER

Pete Buttigieg released a decade's worth of tax returns on Tuesday, joining several other 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls who have opened up their finances as they start the campaign.

The South Bend, Ind., mayor posted his tax returns from 2010 to 2018 on his website. In a statement on the page devoted to his tax documents, Buttigieg said "candidates for the highest office in the land should be transparent and honest."

Buttigieg's tax returns show that he has made six-figure salaries in recent years, but they place him among the least wealthy Democrats running for president in 2020. In 2018, Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, a teacher, earned just over $152,000. The pair paid about $20,000 in federal taxes — an effective tax rate of 13.2 percent, the documents show.

Buttigieg received a $30,000 advance for his book, "Shortest Way Home," in 2017.

Several 2020 candidates have released their tax returns in the early stages of their presidential runs, a move that's grown in significance for Democrats since President Donald Trump has declined to publish his own.

Buttigieg's tax filings stretch back to 2010, when he ran an unsuccessful campaign for Indiana's state treasurer and earned just under $34,000.