BY STEVE MISTLER

State House Bureau

Angus King, the independent candidate running for the U.S. Senate, released seven years worth of tax returns Monday. However, his rivals, who called for the disclosure, have yet to do the same.

King, responding to a challenge from Democratic candidate Cynthia Dill, paid an effective tax rate ranging between 20.4 percent and 26.4 percent, according to a summary of the filings. King’s annual earnings averaged about $570,000.

Dill, who reiterated her challenge late last week, had not released her tax returns by 5 p.m. Monday — the deadline she had proposed. Republican candidate Charlie Summers, who last week had agreed to release his returns, also had not disclosed his by 5 p.m.

“I am prepared to release 10 years of tax returns and am glad that the other two candidates have risen to my challenge to be transparent with Maine voters,” Dill said in a statement Monday afternoon. Dill did not say when she would release her returns.

Drew Brandewie, spokesman for Summers, said the campaign planned to post eight years’ worth of tax returns sometime Monday evening on Summers’ campaign website.

Dill argued that the releasing the returns would bring “civility and transparency” to a race that has seen a flood of money from outside groups. However, her request was also a challenge to King, the wealthiest candidate in a race that has echoed national narratives about income disparity and class warfare.

Dill repeatedly has tried to cast King and Summers as beneficiaries of a system rigged for the connected and the rich.

Drew Brandewie, spokesman for the Summers, said the campaign was working “in a bipartisan way” with Dill to release the returns. The Summers campaign last week criticized King for his delayed response to the challenge.

King’s charitable donations totaled $531,663, or a yearly average of $75,952, over that same period.

King files jointly with his wife Mary Herman.

King’s gross income was $490,486, according to his 2011 returns. He paid $67,817 in taxes last year, for an effective tax rate of 20.9 percent.

His highest tax rate over the seven-year period was 26.4 percent in 2009. His gross income that year was $665,485.

King averaged $231,206 in capital gains earnings over the last seven years. King has advocated for income equalization — that is, taxing capital gains at the same rate as income tax. Dill agrees, while Summers has said that he’d vote to repeal the capital gains tax.

A recent Maine Sunday Telegram story on King reported that the bulk of his wealth came from the sale of his green energy company, Northeast Energy Management. The company won a competitive CMP contract to sell the utility power savings at rates roughly a third to half the cost of having to buy the same power.

King’s company reportedly saved companies and institutions tens of thousands of dollars annually by upgrading inefficient lighting, blowers and other equipment. The utility was able to avoid firing up generating plants with lower profit margins and higher carbon emissions.

King sold the company in January 1994 to a Massachusetts-based competitor, netting $8 million after taxes.

The returns, compiled by King’s accountant, will be posted on King’s campaign website.

King’s recent Senate Financial Disclosure showed that his investments were valued between $4.8 million and $22.5 million, and he took in investment income of $234,000 to $2 million over the roughly 17 months covered by the filing. The report asks only for a value range for investments and investment income, so those numbers are not as precise as earned income.

The report, released this summer, showed that most of his wealth came from the sale of Northeast Energy Mangement, not his investment in Independence Wind, a wind developer.

King’s net income from the sale of his investments in Independence Wind are $69,509, according to the Senate disclosure. King sold his primary stake in the wind farm developer for $407,759, and transferred his remaining stake in March at a loss of $338,250, it says.

Summers and Dill filed their Senate disclosure reports well after the May 15 deadline.

Dill, 47, didn’t report making any money as an attorney in 2011 or in 2012 to date, though records from the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar say she’s authorized to practice. Dill reported $35,654 in earned income in 2011 and 2012 to date. She also has made $22,711 as a legislator since the start of 2011, along with $5,793 from her work as an adjunct faculty member at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland and $650 as a consulting fee from Common Cause, a national lobbying organization promoting open government.

Summers, 52, reported only $70,000 in salary from his state job. His office told MaineToday Media earlier this month that his annual salary is $72,727.

Summers also holds one position outside of government, as an adviser to Hope for the Warriors, a North Carolina-based group that provides support to wounded service members. He didn’t report being paid for that work.

Summers’ report showed the he holds between $15,001 and $50,000 in shares in Walmart, PepsiCo and Exxon Mobil, but has made $1,000 or less on each of the three.

Altogether, his reported assets held in a bank account, dividends and mutual fund accounts add up to between $77,007 and $331,001.

Steve Mistler — 791-6345

smistler@pressherald.com

Twitter: stevemistler

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