Caitlyn Jenner’s Income Has Dropped Dramatically, According To Her Tax Filings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Caitlyn Jenner’s earnings have plummeted in recent years, from a high of $2.5 million in 2016 when she had her own reality TV show to around $550,000, according to tax records.

Jenner is one of the candidates standing for Governor Gavin Newsom’s recall election in California. Last Friday was the deadline for all candidates to reveal their tax returns for the last five years, but Jenner and many of the other contenders only submitted four years since they haven’t yet filed their 2020 filings.

In 2019, Newsom signed legislation mandating presidential and gubernatorial candidates to submit their tax returns in order to appear on the California ballot. It was enacted in an attempt to get former President Donald Trump to reveal his tax returns ahead of the 2020 presidential race. The presidential requirement was overturned by a court, but it remained in effect for gubernatorial candidates. This is the first time it’s been used in an election.

Jenner was a 1976 Olympic gold medallist in the decathlon who married Kris Jenner and co-hosted the reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” Jenner revealed her gender identity as a transgender woman in 2015.

Her tax filings provide insight into how her celebrity helped her financially.

She earned $1.9 million in 2017 when her novel “The Secrets of My Life” was released, and $2.5 million in 2016, when her reality show “I Am Cait” aired in its second season. The novel netted her almost $1.5 million. Jenner’s earnings from the show were not immediately apparent from her tax filings.

Jenner’s net worth was estimated to be about $550,000 in both 2018 and 2019. Much of it came through her company, Cait’s World, and a company named Team Tours Inc. Jenner’s campaign did not reply to a request for comment on the work she conducted for either company.

She also worked in Australia, Greece, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, where she made money and paid taxes. She made the greatest money in Australia, where her 2019 tax returns indicate a gross income of $320,000. In the same year, she participated in the Australian version of the British show “I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.”

Jenner is now in Australia, where she is developing a celebrity version of “Big Brother.”

Jenner’s entire philanthropic contribution went to the Caitlyn Jenner Foundation, which offers grants to groups that support transgender individuals, according to its website.

Candidates for governor were also obliged to file financial disclosure forms detailing their investments. Jenner’s tax returns indicate she has stock in dozens of businesses, including $10,000 to $100,000 stakes in Facebook and Google, both of which are headquartered in California. She has stock in Boeing, Wells Fargo, Berkshire Hathaway, and a number of other businesses valued at up to $10,000.

Cait’s World and CJ Memories, her publishing company, is worth between $100,000 and $1 million, according to the statement. She also owns Caitlyn Aviation, an aircraft holding business, and is a passive investor in Luma Sun Treatment Inc., a skincare firm founded by her friend Sophia Hutchins.

In May, Newsom filed his 2019 tax forms, which revealed that he earned $1.7 million, about a half-million more than the previous year, when he served as lieutenant governor. Newsom’s campaign claimed that he had given his tax returns to the secretary of state, but that they had not been made public. Newsom was not needed to file the petitions since he is not a recall candidate.

The recall election is scheduled for September 14th. Here’s a look at some of the other key Republicans among the 41 contenders’ tax returns:

—From 2016 through 2019, Kevin Faulconer, a Republican and former mayor of San Diego, received a mayoral salary of between $69,000 and 80,000 dollars a year. He hasn’t even filed his 2020 tax filings yet. Faulconer filed jointly with his wife, who owns a San Diego event planning company. Donations to Goodwill were the couple’s philanthropic giving.

—After declaring losses on several of the apartment complexes he owns and deducting $139,000 in charity donations, John Cox, a multimillionaire Republican businessman who lost to Newsom in 2018, had $0 in taxable income in 2019.

—In 2020, Assemblyman Kevin Kiley reported $113,000 in revenue, including roughly $1,400 from the sale of cattle from Ose-Kiley Cattle, which he shares with former Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Ose, another recall candidate. He also stated that his alma institution, Yale Law School, provided him with almost $10,000 in loan payback help. Kiley had paid roughly $18,000 in federal taxes that year and was due to a $1,600 refund. He is a member of the Republican Party.

—Real estate investor Ose and his wife reported $717,000 in income in 2019, the most recent year for which data is available. Their tax bill was $193,000, but they had paid a total of $260,000 in taxes, so they were eligible for a refund of $67,000.