Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton earned $352,601 last year, gave $10K to charity

Last year, Gov. Mark Dayton earned $352,601, a little less than half of which came from capital gains, according to tax returns he released on Wednesday.

The DFL governor, who has released his tax returns every year since 2010, gave $10,000 to charity and paid $76,008 in federal taxes and $29,932 in state taxes, for an effective tax rate of 30 percent.

The heir to the Dayton's department store fortune earned $116,092 from his state salary and $73,062 from dividends.

In 2012, Dayton earned a similar amount from similar sources but only gave $1,000 to charity. He said at the time that he was" disappointed in myself," because of his lack of charitable contributions. He gave 10 times more in 2013 than he gave in 2012, or about 3 percent of his income.

Releasing tax returns is not a requirement for Minnesota politicians. State law mandates only minimal release of officials' economic interests.

In 2013, when Dayton released his tax information, Republican candidates for governor Kurt Zellers, Jeff Johnson and Scott Honour largely followed suit. They are expected to do so again this year.

Zellers' spokeswoman Caitlyn Stenerson said he will not release his until after the GOP primary because getting them ready would take too much precious time during the heated run-up to the August 12 election.

GOP candidate Marty Seifert declined to release his tax information last year and will follow the same course this year.

"I don't think our income-tax return is anyone's business, but can assure you our household income is less than the other GOP candidates and much less than Governor Dayton," Seifert said in a statement.

The four Republicans will vie in an August primary. The winner of that contest will face Dayton in the fall.

Rachel E. Stassen-Berger Twitter: @RachelSB