The tax returns show Mike Pence is far less wealthy than his running mate Donald Trump. | AP Photo Pence releases tax returns as Trump continues to balk

Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, in a break with Donald Trump, released a decade's worth of tax returns Friday.

They show Pence is far less wealthy than his running mate, with the Indiana governor reporting earning $113,026 last year. He paid $8,956 in federal income taxes, which translates into an effective tax rate of 7.9 percent, his return shows.


The Pences gave $8,923 to charity last year, the return shows.

Over the past decade, he's earned as much as $187,495, with his effective tax rate bouncing around, from as much as 11.9 percent and as little as 6.4 percent.

“These tax returns clearly show that Mike and Karen Pence have paid their taxes, supported worthy causes and, unlike the Clintons, the Pences have not profited from their years in public service,” said spokesman Marc Lotter, in a statement.

The disclosure comes even as Trump continues to refuse to produce his own returns, breaking a decades-old tradition and prompting repeated attacks by rival Hillary Clinton. Critics have speculated that the Republican nominee pays a very low tax rate or earns far less than he boasts.

Trump has cited an ongoing IRS audit, among other reasons, though there are no restrictions against someone disclosing returns under investigation.

Pence’s release risks further highlighting Trump’s unusual stand, and Democrats immediately seized on the divide between the two candidates.

"We're pleased to see that one member of the Trump ticket has decided to meet the long-held threshold for disclosure in a modern day presidential campaign,” said Clinton campaign spokeswoman Christina Reynolds. “But it's Donald Trump - who just this week attacked America's generals and showered praise on Russia's authoritarian leader - running to be our next president."

"Trump has continued to hide behind fake excuses to avoid coming clean with the American people, thumbing his nose at a basic level of transparency practiced by every major party nominee since 1976.”

But Pence aides say they see an upside to today's release, saying it will allow the governor to contrast himself with the Clintons, whom he’s accused of parlaying their public service into a fat payday.

“Politics seems to have morphed into a rigged game of self-enrichment and cronyism,” Pence said Thursday. “Americans are fed up with Washington’s self-enrichment racket.”

Pence's salary as governor represented almost the entirety of the couple's earnings last year. His wife Karen, whose occupation was listed as a watercolor artist, reported earning $495 though that was outstripped by $546 in expenses.

Pence, who often jokes about his relatively modest financial situation, reported last month in a separate disclosure to the FEC that he and his wife carry between $95,000 and $280,000 in student loan debt for their children’s educations.

His tax return shows he claimed the American Opportunity Tax Credit, an Obama administration break designed to help middle-class people pay for college tution. His daughter Audrey attends Northeastern University, while another daughter, Charlotte, attended DePaul University.

Pence has been governor of Indiana since 2013, and before that, served a dozen years in the U.S. House.

Clinton and her husband reported earning $10.5 million last year, according to their tax return, upon which they paid an effective tax rate of 34.2 percent. The Clintons have released their tax returns going back decades, which show they’ve earned $150 million since 2007.

Her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, paid a 20.3 percent tax rate on $313,441 in 2015, his tax return showed.