Politics
As the campaign for Senate Seat heats up, Cory Booker releases his tax returns
Newark Mayor Cory Booker. PHOTO/File
Mayor Cory Booker is stepping down from the board of an Internet start-up he helped found, as his campaign provided tax returns showing his income skyrocketed along with his national profile.
Booker, a Democrat who is running for U.S. Senate, said late last week he was leaving the board of Waywire and will donate his company shares to charity.
Booker’s stake in the firm is worth US$1 million to US$5 million, according to Senate financial disclosure forms Booker’s campaign filed in July.
Booker had come under fire for his large stake in the Silicon Valley company, which helps people curate videos they find on the Internet and was backed by influential investors, including Google’s Eric Schmidt.
Additionally, Booker’s campaign released 15 years of his tax returns that trace his path from Yale Law School graduate making US$40,701 as a Newark city councilor in 1998 to a coveted national speaker raking in US$472,571 last year.
In all, he made US$4 million in the past 15 years and paid more than US$1 million in taxes. Booker’s stake in the company did not appear on his taxes because he earned no income from it, said Booker spokesman Kevin Griffis.
The biggest chunk of Booker’s income comes from his speaking engagements. With his soaring oratory and sermon-like talks, Booker is in demand on the lecture circuit, where he has made about US$1.3 million, almost all of it from 2009 to 2012.
