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New Jersey Senate Hopeful Lonegan Releases Tax Returns

METUCHEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan has released his tax returns, showing that the former Bogota mayor and his wife earned about $1 million over the past three years.

From 2010-12, Lonegan worked at Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political action committee, and he owns rental properties with his wife.

Lonegan and his wife, Lorraine, saw their income fluctuate greatly from 2010 to 2012, earning $1.03 million total. They paid $191,105 in taxes and donated about $1,800 to charity.

The couple made about half of their income in 2012, a large chunk of it from the sale of a property they owned.

Lonegan's campaign released his returns days after his Democratic opponent, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, released his own.

Booker made about $4 million over the past 15 years, $1.3 million of it from speaking gigs. Booker claimed about $149,000 in charitable deductions over 15 years. His campaign said he donated $469,906 to charity in 2013.

The Lonegans filed their taxes jointly, and the campaign did not provide a breakdown of their salary. Lorraine Lonegan is a teacher.

The couple made most of their money off the sale of rental properties and, in some years, the rental properties themselves. In 2010, the couple made $329,900. About a third came from the sale of a property and rental income. They took $36,581 in itemized deductions that year and paid $65,343 in taxes.

Other years, the rental properties and investments yielded losses. In 2012, their most lucrative year, the Lonegans claimed $52,911 in rental losses. They also reported losing $21,716 in long-term funds they sold.

Lonegan, who was campaigning in Hoboken on Monday, owned a custom cabinet company that he sold in the mid-2000s. The building he sold in 2010 was connected to the business, said campaign spokesman Will Gattenby.

"These taxes show that he was a small-business owner, and as a successful small-business owner, he's making other investments," Gattenby said.

Lonegan's campaign released the returns to the media at campaign headquarters in a strip mall in Metuchen, about 20 miles southwest of Newark. Reporters were not allowed to copy or photograph the returns and had to give them back to the campaign after four hours.

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