Sen. Bob Menendez discloses tax forms, reports paying $47,000 last year

NEW BRUNSWICK – U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez paid about $47,000 of his $170,985 reported income in state and federal income taxes last year, according to tax forms his campaign made available Friday.

The majority of Menendez’s income came from his government salary, a distinction between the two-term Paramus Democrat and multi-millionaire Bob Hugin, his likely Republican rival in the race for Senate in November.

Hugin, a former executive at pharmaceutical giant Celgene, reported earnings of a combined $34 million between 2015 and 2016, according to financial documents his campaign made available earlier this month.

Menendez brought in an additional $19,000 from a rental he owns in Union City, bringing his total pre-tax income to about $193,000. That rental income rose from about $13,500 in 2012.

Six years’ worth of tax forms were made available by the campaign this week, about 10 days after Hugin’s campaign allowed reporters to view two years of his tax documents. While the Republican’s campaign did not allow reporters to use any technological devices in the room with documents, Menendez’s team did but also prohibited photographs or copies from being made.

According to the tax returns, Menendez reported no significant investments or other income from assets – another great distinction from Hugin, whose financial documents contained pages of investments.

U.S. senators, including Menendez, are paid an annual $174,000, which Hugin’s campaign has said he would decline to accept if elected. After pre-tax deductions for his retirement plan, Menendez reported wages of $151,524 in 2017.

He paid about $37,000 in federal income taxes and $9,800 in state income taxes.

Menendez has paid about $10,000 in property taxes for the last six years for the residence he owns in Union City. He lives in Paramus but doesn’t own that property, and about $2,000 to $3,000 of his rent goes toward property taxes, according to his state tax forms.

Details of Menendez’s $240 charitable donation in 2017 were not available. His forms showed no charitable donations made between 2012 and 2016.

Hugin, meanwhile, donated between $4 million and $5 million in two years, most of which was toward the Hugin Family Fund.

Menendez has spent the last three years battling corruption charges in federal court. In January, a judge acquitted him on some charges and prosecutors dropped the remainder of the charges. Despite the charges being dropped, a Senate ethics committee recently admonished him.

According to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released this week, 22 percent of adults had a favorable view of the senator, who sits on the foreign relations, finance and banking committees in the U.S. Senate. About 35 percent had an unfavorable view of him.

Email: carrera@northjersey.com

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