Governator wannabe Arnold Schwarzenegger is worth his weight in California gold – earning a whopping $57 million in just two years, his latest tax returns show.
The muscle-bound movie mogul raked in more than a staggering $31 million in 2000, then pumped up his earnings with another $26 million the next year, according to the just-released records.
But not all of that dough filled the former body-builder’s personal coffers.
Schwarzenegger, now running for California governor, paid more than $15.4 million in federal taxes for both years. He then handed over another $4.6 million in state taxes to California.
Even New York got a piece of the action star’s tax pie, although a tiny one: Schwarzenegger’s returns show he paid more than $13,700 in taxes to the state for the two years.
Colleen McAndrews, one of the superstar’s campaign lawyers, conceded that if her client wins the race, he will likely be the richest governor that California has ever had.
And that brings some potential problems, including ensuring he meets the state’s stringent conflict-of-interest laws for candidates, she said.
Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger is a big star with charities, the records show.
In 2001, he donated $4.2 million to various groups. Those donations included a $2 million estate to the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He also gave to such groups as the Twin Towers Fund, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund USA and another affiliated with the Kennedy clan’s efforts to help the mentally handicapped. His wife is Kennedy daughter Maria Shriver.
A year earlier, the star donated $742,452 to charity, including giving 2,500 shares of Starbucks, estimated at $108,359, to Habitat for Humanity, and a 1934 Bentley, valued at $41,500, and 1996 Humvee, worth $86,000, to the Inner City Games Foundation, a group he created in 1995 to provide kids with after-school programs.
He will be in New York today for the group’s renaming to After-School All-Stars.
Politically, the star gave more than $1.5 million to help pass Proposition 49 in California, which also provided money for after-school programs there.
In a strange twist, stock transactions show that the ultimate fitness buff invested in cigarette giant Philip Morris, losing $22,606 at one point in 2000 after selling off some shares he bought in ’97.
CASH ACTION HERO
2000
Earnings: $31 million
Paid taxes: Federal, $8.2 million; California, $2.6 million; New York: $7,513
Charitable contributions: $742,452
2001
Earnings: $26 million
Paid taxes: Federal, $7.4 million; California, $1.9 million; New York, $6,224
Charitable contributions: $4.2 million
Net Worth: $200 million
*Based on income-tax forms released by campaign.