AURORA — The competitive 6th Congressional District race features a challenger who’s scraped by in some years and an incumbent who’s lived on decent government salaries plus, in recent years, his state pension.
Last year, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican, reported $211,156 in income on his tax return after deductions and exemptions. He received $57,224 from his state pension — earned from serving in several elected posts earlier in his career. The rest was based on his $174,000 congressional salary. Coffman began receiving pension payouts in 2009, his first year in Congress.
The Denver Post received copies of tax returns from Coffman and Democratic challenger Andrew Romanoff going back a decade. Coffman didn’t provide his 2008 return, saying he didn’t have a copy and had requested one from the Internal Revenue Service.
Romanoff’s tax returns show his best earning years were in 2011 and 2012, between his 2010 run for the U.S. Senate and the start of his current campaign, in early 2013.
Working and consulting for International Development Enterprises, a Denver nonprofit, he reported adjusted gross incomes of $89,302 in 2011 and $99,657 in 2012, at least double his reported annual earnings when he served in the state House through 2008.
But in 2010, the year the former House speaker challenged U.S. Senator Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary, he reported an adjusted gross income of just $17,066.
And last year, Romanoff reported an adjusted income of $18,996.
“He has a pretty monastic lifestyle,” campaign spokeswoman Denise Baron said, and he’s noted for wearing out his clothes.
Romanoff made a little more than it appears last year. Before adjustments, he disclosed earning $24,500 on his congressional campaign financial disclosure statement. That includes his work for the nonprofit, plus $2,500 from teaching at the University of Denver and $1,000 from a TV political analyst gig. The latter two items would have been reported on a separate tax filing for contract income.
A decision that put Romanoff at a continuing tax disadvantage was his decision in 2010 to sell his Washington Park bungalow and pool some cash to help finance his campaign.
Since then, he’s lived in apartments in Denver and now Aurora, losing the lucrative mortgage deduction.
Coffman, who deferred some tax payments in recent years, , or in the bottom 40 percent, on CQ Roll Call’s annual list of the wealthiest members of the House and Senate. That was based on an estimated “minimum net worth” of $180,000, a figure calculated using the ranges of assets and liabilities reported on his disclosure form.
Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JonMurray
