Bruce Rauner -- the Republican nominee for Illinois governor -- says he followed the letter of the law when filing his taxes. But he won't say whether it was fair.
Rauner, a businessman, has said his wealth puts him in the top .01%.
Even so, a Chicago Tribune analysis showed that in several recent years, he paid no Social Security or Medicare taxes.
Rauner has released limited parts of his tax returns.
It's believed he took advantage of I-R-S rules to legally cut his tax burden.
Rauner defended that ...
RAUNER "We honor all the rules, all the regulations, all the tax laws. We follow the tax code. We pay all the taxes that are owed."
Rauner adds that he's given tens of millions of dollars to charitable causes.
But when asked if that's fair, if he SHOULD be taxed at the same rate as someone who's middle class, he turned things back on his opponent, Gov. Pat Quinn.
REPORTER: "No the issue is should you, should someone like you?
RAUNER: "We can talk about should we reform our tax code, and we'll be doing that in the future. Here's the issue. This is a political stunt by Gov. Quinn to divert attention from the investigations going on in his administration."
Quinn has been pushing hard to make Rauner's wealth into a campaign issue.
Copyright 2014 NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS
