The reporters got as much time as they wanted and were permitted to take notes, but the returns could not leave the room. Asked about such restrictions, Mr. McLagan said other politicians, like Gov. George E. Pataki, had used the same system. Many, including President and Mrs. Clinton, distribute copies.

The Lazio campaign did not provide originals of the returns, and they did not include the dates they were filed. Aides said Mr. Lazio has always filed on time and had never sought extensions or filed amended returns. He used an accountant, except in 1990, when it appears he did his return himself.

Mrs. Lazio has proudly declared that she cleans her own house, and there was nothing in the returns to disprove that. The Lazios did not pay any taxes on salaries for household help or day care, and Mr. McLagan said they had never used hired help to care for their two young daughters. Other politicians in recent years have run into trouble for not paying taxes on wages to domestic workers.

As had already been apparent from the disclosure forms that he files with Congress, the returns show that Mr. Lazio was smitten with the stock market in recent years, often engaging in short-term stock trades, though his lackluster results suggest he might have been better off putting his money in a mutual fund that tracked the market.

One of his worst trades was in the stock of Halliburton, the oil services company whose chief executive then was Dick Cheney, now the Republican vice presidential nominee. Mr. Lazio lost about $5,000 trading Halliburton stock in 1998, when the stock was sagging along with oil prices.

The returns confirm the details provided earlier by the campaign about one of Mr. Lazio's biggest successes in the market, his 1997 windfall from speculating in the stock of Quick & Reilly, a brokerage firm. Those investments were the subject of an insider trading inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission that ended last week with the agency taking no action.

In 1999, the Clintons reported income of $416,039.

The Lazios' adjusted gross income has hovered around $150,000 in recent years, largely because of his Congressional salary. Their best year was 1997, when they declared $159,258 in adjusted gross income.