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Old Jeep, Furniture Among Mayor's Charitable Gifts in 2010

By DNAinfo Staff on May 28, 2011 9:40am

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivers the fiscal year 2009 budget, on Thursday, May 1, 2008.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivers the fiscal year 2009 budget, on Thursday, May 1, 2008.
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AP Photo/Julia Xanthos, Pool

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CITY HALL — A 1996 green Jeep Grand Cherokee with more than 95,000 miles is among the gifts billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave out last year, according to heavily redacted tax documents released by his office Friday.

The car originally a gift to his daughter and later used for family errands was donated to the Red Cross, Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said.

The gift is one of several revealed in the documents, which provide a unique peek into the earnings and donations of the mayor, who is the majority shareholder of the  LP media company.

Among those who benefited from the mayor's wealth were his ex-wife Susan Bloomberg, whose trust fund received more than $500,000 again in 2010. He also forgave a loan to Johns Hopkins University worth more than $500,000, and donated a large, high-gloss lacquered cabinet worth between $44,000 and $60,000, originally purchased for his foundation, to an organization that helps the homeless find temporary homes.

The mayor has made his personal tax filings public since 2001, but in place of actual numbers, his accountants release letters representing a dollar range. For example "G," the highest category, represents sums in excess of $500,000.

As a result, it's practically impossible to know just how much the mayor has earned.

But the filings reveal the mayor not only earned more than $500,000 in 2010. He also paid more than $1.5 million in taxes and overpaid his taxes by more than $500,000, triggering a $500,000-plus reimbursement from the IRS.

The mayor also continues to maintain property in addition to his primary residence on the Upper East Side and a home in London. They include properties in Vail, Colo., St. George, Bermuda, Westchester County and Wellington, Fla.

The mayor also continues to receive royalties for past appearance on "Law & Order" and "A Muppets Christmas," Loeser said, and earned thousands of dollars last year in horse show winnings in connection to his daughter, Georgina's, horseback riding.

Forbes estimates the mayor is worth about $18.1 billion.