Goldman Veteran Running for NJ Governor Had $21 Million Income

Philip D. Murphy, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive running for New Jersey governor in 2017, had income of $20.9 million over five years, federal tax returns show.

The filings show his earnings for tax years 2010-2014 were mostly from investments, and that payments to the federal government totaled $11.4 million. He and his wife also paid $200,401 in local property taxes on their riverfront home in Middletown in 2014, the filings show.

Murphy, a 58-year-old Democrat, entered the race early to draw attention to middle-class struggles as a result of the state’s lackluster economy, he said in a YouTube video announcing his candidacy May 16. The winner will succeed Governor Chris Christie, a 53-year-old Republican whose term ends in January 2018.

Like former Governor Jon Corzine, another Goldman veteran and Democrat who was ousted by Christie in 2009, Murphy is the product of a working-class upbringing who says he wants to give back to his adopted home state. Corzine, a Goldman Sachs co-chairman until his ouster in 1999, spent more than $100 million of his personal fortune on runs for governor and U.S. Senate.

Murphy is loaning $10 million of his own to his campaign. He made the tax documents, filed by him and his wife, Tammy J. Snyder Murphy, available to the media in Newark on the condition that the records not be removed or duplicated. They have filed for an extension on their 2015 returns.

Income of $6.38 million in 2014, when the Murphys had a tax rate of 34.13 percent, was double the 2010 amount, taxed at 31.61 percent. Charitable contributions, including to the couple’s foundation, totaled $4.9 million over five years.

The couple also own homes in Berlin and Italy, according to campaign spokeswoman Julie Roginsky.

Murphy, the finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2006 to 2009, was appointed ambassador to Germany in 2009 by President Barack Obama. Prior to that he was head of Goldman’s Frankfurt office and also had been chief of the company’s Asia operations.

At least three other Democrats -- Senate President Steve Sweeney, Senator Raymond Lesniak and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop -- are believed to be considering a run.