Gubernatorial Candidate Foulkes Refuses to Release Past Five Years of Tax Returns
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Democratic candidate for governor of Rhode Island Helena Foulkes is refusing to release her past five years of tax returns or answer questions about her total compensation from her tenure as CEO at Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC).
Fellow Democratic candidate and sitting General Treasurer Seth Magaziner on Monday called on all the candidates to release their past five years of tax returns.
“Rhode Islanders deserve to have trust in their elected officials and we earn that trust by being transparent,” said Magaziner. “Candidates in Rhode Island should follow the long-accepted custom that President Trump broke when he refused to release his tax returns. No one should ever have to guess who their elected officials are working for.”
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Foulkes' Campaign: Will Release One Year Only
In a statement, Foulkes' campaign manager Emma Caccamo said, “Helena is preparing to provide her recent tax returns, and we look forward to sharing them soon."
The one year Foulkes campaign is offering to release is the one year that she was not working.
Foulkes’ campaign refused to address the total compensation for her tenure at HBC.
Foulkes' tenure at HBC was short -- just two years, and she earned more than $29 million annually.
Foulkes' compensation at Canadian retailer HBC came under fire from shareholders including public employees' pension systems.
At her first corporate annual meeting, about one-quarter of votes cast by HBC shareholders opposed the company’s multi-million dollar payouts to top executives for the second year in a row at an unusually secretive annual general meeting, reported the Toronto Star.
"Nearly 26.5 percent of votes cast were against the retailer’s approach to executive compensation, according to company documents. That amounts to about 47.9 million negative votes.'We are concerned that the board has again chosen to make awards to executives that are outside the compensation plan,' wrote the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which holds a 10 percent stake in HBC, in its rationale for voting against the proposal."
“We do not feel that the awards have been sufficiently justified,” said the fund in a statement.
According to the Star, "The company’s highest paid executive, CEO Helena Foulkes, received a pay package of a little over $29.4 million for the 2018 financial year — her first with the company. Foulkes, who joined HBC in Feb. 2018, received a package that includes a roughly $1.6-million base salary and about $19.6 million in share-based awards and a roughly $3 million sign-on bonus. It also included a pension, a roughly $2.7-million guaranteed annual bonus, a housing and relocation allowance, and other compensation.
This story was first published 10/25/21 6:05 PM
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