Governor candidate Tim Walz releases tax returns going back decade

Here is a quick summary:

— Walz and his wife, Gwen, who works in education, reported $208,592 income in 2016, for which they paid $32,670 in federal taxes and $11,928 in Minnesota taxes, according to the returns. That's an effective tax rate of 21.4 percent.

— In 2016, Walz reported $149,690 in wages from the House of Representatives and his wife reported $58,629 from Mankato Area Public Schools (Independent District 77), where she is employed as an assessment coordinator.

— Walz, who was elected in 2006, has forgone cost-of-living wage increases during his House tenure. According to an Oct. 31, 2017, letter to Walz from the House's office of Members' Services, those increases were deducted from his pay. "To date you have returned funds to U.S. Treasury reducing the national debt by the amount of $81,684.00." The actual salary of House members today is $174,000 a year.

— The couple reported no other sources of income aside from receiving rent for a two-bedroom apartment they own.

— In 2006, before he had begun his job in Congress, Walz, a teacher, and his wife reported $77,045 in income and paid $5,009 in federal income taxes and $3,963 in state taxes, an effective tax rate of 11.6 percent.

— The Walzes' reported charitable giving ranged from no amount reported in 2007 to $10,493 in cash in 2013 and has included noncash items such as clothing and furniture to the Minnesota Valley Action Council and Habitat for Humanity.

"I believe Minnesotans have a right to see the tax returns of the people who seek to represent them as governor," Walz said in a statement accompanying the release.

Walz is the first prominent candidate for governor to release tax returns. Most of the candidates for governor — Gov. Mark Dayton isn't running — have said they will make their returns public.