gov. bruce rauner. | ap photo/seth perlman by natasha korecki 11/01/16 01:47 pm edt chicago <u+2014> gov. bruce rauner, who once described himself as part of the <u+201c>point-zero-one percent<u+201d> of wealthy americans, is holding back on releasing his personal income taxes this year <u+2014> a departure from past practice for the wealthy republican. the rauner family foundation also has not filed its papers this year. since oct. 20, rauner<u+2019>s office did not respond to questions about why the governor hadn't released his 2015 taxes and whether he planned to do so. informed today that politico was poised to publish a story, the governor's office released this statement. story continued below "governor rauner will release his tax returns, as he has done in the past, when additional filings are completed, including the filings for the rauner family foundation," said the text-message statement from spokeswoman catherine kelly. the governor's office did not say whether the disclosures would come before or after tuesday's election. last year, rauner sought an extension in april, then released the information in mid-october. rauner's pre-election nondisclosure comes amid an intense and unusually costly election season in illinois, with rauner personally investing more than $30 million of his own money in an attempt to reshape the illinois general assembly. when asked about the tax returns, democrats wasted no time in linking rauner to presidential gop nominee donald trump, who has broken with precedent in presidential races not releasing his own. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve not seen those returns,<u+201d> illinois democratic party spokesman steve brown told politico illinois. <u+201c>it certainly is another example of making him look more trump-like. a very curious development.<u+201d> rauner in the past said that by releasing portions of his returns, he already went beyond what the law required. republicans have in turn asked why democrats such as speaker mike madigan aren<u+2019>t held to the same standard as the governor. it<u+2019>s long-established practice in illinois for the state<u+2019>s chief executive to offer up finances for public scrutiny. the issue has flown under the radar so far this year. last year, the governor, who made a fortune as a private equity investor before his first run for public office in 2013, reported $57.5 million in income for 2014. rauner has estimated his wealth at more than $500 million. when rauner ran for office in 2014, he was lambasted by democrats for releasing only the top sheets of his taxes, which do not provide specifics on which deductions he employed. while rauner himself is not on the ballot, he is very much a part of this year<u+2019>s election, along with two wealthy allies providing money that has blown the caps in numerous legislative battles. the money war has largely focused on madigan, whom republicans blame for the state<u+2019>s ills. an outside group led by democrats, called leading illinois for tomorrow, has spent more than $8 million targeting rauner and republicans in advance of the november election. rauner himself is a featured target in democratic ads that seek to link him to down-ballot republicans. in some of those ads, democrats have excoriated rauner for not disowning trump. "is it about not wanting to be transparent or not wanting to draw contrasts between yourself and the presidential nominee?" said kent redfield, professor emeritus at university of illinois at springfield. "those are the two most reasonable explanations: 'i don't have to do it' and 'it's not going to hurt me.' or we're kind of slow-walking it because we don't want to draw contracts between his behavior and trump's." natasha korecki<u+2019>s must-read rundown of political news in the land of lincoln
rauner holds back on releasing tax returns
natasha korecki