Abraham releases more of her tax returns

Democratic mayoral candidate Lynne M. Abraham made good on a pledge at Monday night's debate and released three more years of her personal tax records Tuesday.

They showed just what she said they would: that her financial dealings in those years varied little from those reported in her 2013 return, which she had already made public at The Inquirer's request.

In releasing her federal tax returns for 2010, 2011, and 2012, she went one better than four of her opponents, who, at the request of The Inquirer, released three years of returns, 2011 through 2013.

At the time those returns were made public, Abraham released only her 2013 federal tax return. She said that return varied little from the other years requested, so there was no need to make them public.

That decision came back to haunt her Monday night when candidate James F. Kenney suggested she had something to hide.

"Is there a 'dark money' problem in the tax returns you didn't release?" Kenney asked.

"No secrets," Abraham responded. "You can have them now if you want."

What the returns show was that Abraham earned a substantial income (a high of $481,320 in 2012) from her law practice at Archer & Greiner, state and city pensions ($162,620 in 2012), and Social Security ($30,754 in 2012), while paying a substantial amount in federal taxes. Her tax bill ranged from $82,727 in 2010, when she earned $330,972, to a high of $122,553 in 2012.

She reported $11,025 in charitable gifts in 2010, $9,475 in 2011, and $12,215 in 2012. She reported $10,690 in 2013.

In comparison, Abraham, 74, reported $428,982 in total income for 2013. Of that, $194,860 came from her law practice at Archer & Greiner. She reported $165,896 from pensions and annuities. Of that, $27,035 was from a state pension and $107,091 from a city pension.

Abraham served 15 years in the state court system, first as a Municipal Court judge and later a Common Pleas Court judge. She was on the city payroll, off and on, for about 27 years. She was district attorney for about 19 years.

Other candidates to have released their returns are Kenney, State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, Nelson A. Diaz, and Doug Oliver.