LOS ANGELES — Rick Caruso has released information on the taxes that he and his businesses paid over the last five years but — unlike most other major candidates in the race for mayor — the billionaire businessman’s finances and tax rate remain a secret because of his unwillingness to release his full returns.
A letter from Caruso’s campaign reviewed by the Los Angeles Times says that the real estate developer paid more than $1.6 million in personal income taxes to the state and federal government over five years, or about $328,000 a year, on an undisclosed amount of income.
Caruso declared that he and his wife, Tina, made $39.6 million in charitable contributions. The report does not specify which organizations received the money, though in the past Caruso’s family foundation has reported large donations to programs supporting disadvantaged children, minority scholars and medical research at the University of Southern California, where he served on the board of trustees.
