Walz & Flanagan have both released multiple years of tax returns
St. Paul, MN – Today, August 12, the Walz-Flanagan campaign called on Scott Jensen and Matt Birk to release their tax returns following their official victory in the GOP primary. Both Walz and Flanagan have released multiple years of tax returns and made them available here.
DFL and Republican party candidates for Minnesota governor in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 elections have released their tax returns to promote transparency.
“Like previous Republican and DFL candidates for governor, Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan have shown their commitment to transparency by releasing their tax returns,” said Walz-Flanagan campaign spokesperson Darwin Forsyth. “Minnesotans deserve to know whether candidates running for governor and lieutenant governor have financial conflicts of interest that could impact our state. If Scott Jensen and Matt Birk have nothing to hide, they should release their tax returns.”
Tax returns can shed light on potential financial conflicts of interest, investments, or rental properties that would not otherwise appear on Minnesota’s financial disclosure forms for candidates – including out of state properties and assets. Birk appears to rent his out-of-state private lodge to clients of his consulting business and owns other property out of state, including a multi-million dollar estate in Florida.
Scott Jensen has used $65,000 of campaign funds to buy copies of his own book, potentially directly enriching himself. Matt Birk’s business received a $64,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in 2020. The PPP program was designed to ensure that struggling businesses could continue to pay their employees during the pandemic, but it appears that Birk was one of just two employees.
As a member of Congress, Gov. Walz introduced the STOCK Act, a bill that sought to limit congressional insider trading and increase transparency and accountability from elected officials. In 2012, the STOCK Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
