According to his campaign’s financial summary, Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft earned $6.3 million last year; however, as he chose not to make his tax return public, it is unclear exactly where his money came from.
A week after Mayor Michelle Wu urged him to release his 2024 tax return to disclose any financial interests or business entanglements, Kraft, the son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, gave the first look at his financial data since beginning his mayoral campaign on Friday.
In a statement, Kraft campaign spokesperson Eileen O. Connor stated, “Today, Josh is giving a true picture of his personal finances based on the last two years of tax filings, including total annual income and charitable donations, as well as state and federal income tax payments.” The material being supplied today actually goes much beyond what a candidate is legally required to know.
According to O’Connor, Josh has made it apparent to the public that he was born into affluence and that his family’s prosperity has enabled him to pursue a career in charitable and community service, mostly in Boston’s neighborhoods.
The Kraft campaign provided a brief overview of his total income of $6.3 million, charitable contributions of $269,000, and estimated federal and state taxes of $2.06 million and $510,000, respectively, but declined to provide his 2024 tax returns, which are on a six-month extension through the Oct. 15 IRS filing deadline.
According to the Kraft campaign, Wu paid only 17% in income taxes last year and made no charitable contributions, whereas he paid 41% of his income in state and federal taxes.
In addition, a financial summary was given for his 2023 tax returns, which he also refused to make public even though they had been filed. Kraft reported $6.495 million in 2023, a little more than the previous year.
His tax-deductible charity contributions totaled $297,000. His state and federal income taxes were $358,000 and $1.83 million, respectively.
In answer to questions from the Herald, the Kraft campaign stated that his income was made up of salary, interest, dividends, and capital gains, but they would not elaborate on the source of his income.
O’Connor stated, “We are not revealing precise amounts of each.”
Following the start of his mayoral campaign this past February, Kraft resigned from his role as the head of the New England Patriots Foundation, his family’s nonprofit arm.
As the head of his family’s nonprofit foundation, Kraft has not received a salary in recent years, according to publicly accessible 990 forms. While serving as president of the New England Patriots Foundation in 2023 and 2024, his campaign acknowledged that he received a compensation, although it did not specify how much it was.
Before assuming leadership of his family’s charitable organization, Kraft held a comparable executive-level position. According to publicly available 990 papers, he received a salary of almost $350,000 in fiscal year 2020 while serving as the head of the Boston-based Boys and Girls Clubs.
Kraft recently took $2 million out of his personal bank account to fund his mayoral campaign, claiming in May that he had to do so since he was challenging the authority of incumbents. He claimed that Wu has had four years to raise money, whereas he has only had four months.
Robert Kraft, his father and the chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, is worth $11.8 billion.
After two weeks of increasing public pressure, Kraft finally disclosed his partial financial details.
Wu publicly called on Kraft to share his tax returns and financial details last week and again on Wednesday. Wu released her 2024 tax return in May, revealing that she earned $184,241 in federal adjusted gross income last year, the majority of which came from her $207,000 mayoral salary.
The mayor pointed specifically to the Kraft Group’s proposal to construct a soccer stadium in Everett during contentious talks with the City of Boston, accusing her opponent of attempting to conceal his business dealings and affiliations that she believes could affect his capacity to lead the city as mayor.
The Wu campaign took issue with Kraft’s choice to withhold his whole tax return.
The Wu campaign said in a statement on Friday that the mayor of Boston should serve the people of Boston and no one else, free from entanglements, conflicts, and hidden financial interests. For the past 12 years, Mayor Wu has made her complete financial statements available each year. We’re still waiting on Josh Kraft to fulfill his commitment from months ago.
Although Kraft has said he would not participate in the city’s Everett stadium negotiations, his apparent ties to the New England Revolution, the professional soccer team that will play there, could make things more difficult for him.
Regarding the potential parking and traffic effects of the planned stadium on the neighboring Charlestown area, the Wu administration is requesting additional mitigation from the Kraft Group. After failing to agree on a previous mitigation plan presented by the Krafts, the parties are now in mediation.
Josh Kraft may be included in a succession plan to inherit ownership of the New England Revolution, which now shares Gillette Stadium with the Patriots, according to a 2015 court filing. Kraft’s father owns the stadium and both teams.
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Josh Kraft’s involvement with the Revolution has been minimized by the Kraft campaign. It reiterated this Friday, claiming that the candidate is not involved in the day-to-day operations or decision-making of any of his family’s companies, including Revolution.
Additionally, according to the campaign, Kraft currently has no financial ties to the Kraft Group other than a blind trust over which he has no authority.
The Kraft campaign justified the day’s partial release as a substantial amount of transparency, going well above what a candidate is supposed to do, even though they did not reveal the actual tax returns.
Wu has been under fire from Kraft for what he perceives to be her lack of financial openness on the stadium idea she has supported for professional women’s soccer. He accused her of attempting to conceal the final taxpayer expenses for the about $200 million public-private White Stadium renovation until after the election during a campaign event on Wednesday.
