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McAuliffe Falls Short in Tax Return Release

Terry McAuliffe / AP

Virginia gubernatorial Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe has finally responded to Republican opponent Ken Cuccinelli’s call for him to release tax returns.

McAuliffe made available just six summary pages of tax returns from the last three years.

Cuccinelli last week released 225 pages of detailed federal and state returns covering eight years.

Dave Rexrode, campaign manager for Cuccinelli, feels the information provided by McAuliffe fell woefully short.

"There are a growing number of questions for McAuliffe to answer about his circumspect business dealings and now he refuses to share with the public the details of how he made his income," Rexrode told the Associated Press.

McAuliffe released only the first two pages of federal returns for the years 2009, 2010, and 2011.

McAuliffe reported an income of $16.5 million in those three years, taking in $6.5 million in 2009, $1.8 million in 2010, and $8.2 million in 2011.

These figures dwarf the income of Cuccinelli, who earned $194,398 last year. This income is made up almost entirely from his $157,350 salary as Virginia attorney general.

There is also a stark contrast regarding the nature of the income.

McAuliffe’s brief tax returns show that only $625,000, roughly 4 percent, of his $16.5 million of income came from wages. The majority of McAuliffe’s income is from capital gains and business income.

Only $7,048 of Cuccinelli’s income in 2012 came from investments.

Cuccinelli has called on McAuliffe to release personal financial details, saying McAuliffe has previously claimed that a failure to do so means a candidate has something to hide.

According to a recent Roanoke College poll of registered voters, Cuccinelli leads McAullife 35 percent to 27 percent.