by Jay Root
AUSTIN (THE TEXAS TRIBUNE) - Gov. Rick Perry
and his wife, Anita, made a little more than $300,000 in 2011, getting a
pay boost over the previous year thanks to his new state pension
benefit and the sale of an interest in North Texas gas wells, tax
records show.
The couple reported adjusted gross income of
$312,597 and paid $76,000 in taxes. They gave $27,083 to charity:
$25,000 to his mega church, Lake Hills Church in West Austin, and $2,000 to Denison Forum, a Christian conservative nonprofit. Perry's adjusted gross income in 2011 surpassed his 2010 income by about $95,000.
The
figures come from the Perrys' 2011 tax return, which the governor's
office provided to The Texas Tribune last week. Perry filed an extension
last year. So far the governor, lieutenant governor and three Texas
legislators have publicly released tax returns to the Tribune, which has
requested them from top legislative leaders and all state lawmakers.
Perry has regularly released his tax returns to the media since his first race for a full term as governor in 2002. He has provided returns
stretching back to 1987. State disclosure laws do not require it, but
candidates running for Texas governor have in recent years generally
provide at least some of their federal tax returns. Perry took office in
December 2000, about a month before his predecessor, George W. Bush,
was sworn in as president.
Perry makes a $150,000 gross salary as
governor. He also reported pre-tax earnings of $84,541 from his state
pension, the subject of considerable controversy.
He is taking advantage of an unusually generous perk
in the law, dating at least to 1991, that applies to veteran elected
officials. It has allowed the longest-serving Texas governor to retire
without ever leaving his job — to collect both a salary and a pension.
Perry began drawing
monthly pension payments in early 2011. Perry, who has applied several
years of military service to his state pension, can retire again from
the state when he leaves office and count additional years toward his
annuity. A bill pending in the state House would eliminate the provision.
Perry's
office points out that he has met the legal requirements to take the
pension and continues to pay into the retirement system.
The tax
returns also show how much Perry made on the sale of a stake in MKS
Natural Gas Company, started by his longtime friend Ric Williamson, a
former state representative appointed
by Perry to be chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission in 2004.
Williamson died in 2007. Perry sold an interest in MKS in 2011,
according to his Personal Financial Statement filed last year.
Perry
spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said the sale is reported as $30,782 in
ordinary income on his tax return on a K1, a federal tax reform used to
report business income or losses, from the RP 2010 Management Trust.
The governor once made a small fortune in
real estate, about $2 million in pre-tax profits, according to public
records and news accounts, but he reports no direct property ownership
on his latest personal financial statement.
Perry incurred major
capital losses during the downturn in 2008, previous tax returns
indicate. According to his latest return, Perry can still carry forward
more than $500,000 of previous capital losses, deductions that can be
used to offset future capital gains, said Houston accountant Bob Martin,
who has analyzed the governor's tax records and disclosure statements
for the Tribune. Anita Perry reported $65,000 from her consulting work
for Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, the same amount reported
in previous tax years. The governor's salary remained unchanged, too.
The
Perrys reported adjusted gross income of $217,447 in 2010. Most of the
increase in their take home pay can be attributed to Perry's pension and
the MKS sale, Martin said.
photo illustration by: Todd Wiseman / Gage Skidmore
