Stronger market performance brought the first couple’s income back above $1 million in 2023 after 2022 contractions. (Rich Hundley III/Governor’s Office)
New Jersey’s first couple earned $1.4 million in income in 2023, mostly due to a stock market swell that won them nearly $900,000 in capital gains, according to partial tax returns they released Thursday.
The returns show a significant increase in income over 2022, when Gov. Phil Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy earned $684,576 in adjusted gross income amid a stock market tumble that saw them lose $3,000 overall to the market.
In 2023, the couple reported $885,920 in capital gains, $486,844 in dividends, and $113,364 in taxable interest. The governor earns a $175,000 salary for his elected position.
The Murphys paid $598,003 in state and federal taxes on their income, leaving the first couple with an effective tax rate of 42.23% for 2023. They received a $361,028 federal tax refund, which they opted to apply to their 2024 tax bill.
The couple gave $372,440 to charity in 2023, almost all of which was distributed through the Philip and Tammy Murphy Family Foundation.
Before taking elected office, the governor was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs for 23 years before retiring in 2006, after which he served as the Democratic National Committee’s finance chairman for three years before becoming U.S. Ambassador to Germany under President Barack Obama.
Tammy Murphy previously worked as an analyst for the investment bank and for Investicorp, a private investment firm.
The two reported nearly $6.8 million in income and a $2.2 million tax bill in 2017, the year before Murphy took office. Their income has oscillated wildly during the governor’s time in office.
They reported $2.2 million in income in 2018, $3.1 million in 2019, just under $1 million in 2020, and $5.2 million in 2021.
The governor’s assets were placed into a blind trust managed by his brother-in-law when he took office.
Though elected officials are not required to release their tax returns, Murphy has published his 1040 and a five-year tax summary each year of his tenure and made his full tax return — a complex filing that runs for hundreds of pages — available for press review.
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