The state Republican Party on Wednesday called on DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton to provide more information about any investments he may hold outside of Minnesota, accusing him of using South Dakota trusts and Caribbean investments over the years as tax shelters.

State GOP chair Tony Sutton, who acknowledged that Republicans also use tax shelters, nevertheless called on Dayton to release more details about his current financial situation. Sutton said it was hypocritical of Dayton to advocate higher taxes on wealthier Minnesotans if he has sheltered assets.

Dayton's campaign dismissed the demand as a red herring.

"The Republican Party's information is outdated," said Dayton spokeswoman Katharine Tinucci. "All income from the trust distributed to Mark is fully taxable in Minnesota," she said, noting that more current information is on file with the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

The GOP drew its information from financial disclosures Dayton made while a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2007.

Tinucci said Dayton paid Minnesota taxes on income from separate investments in the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, which she said he sold in 2008.

She declined to comment on the GOP claim that those investments and the trusts provided other tax advantages.

In a state financial disclosure statement filed this year, Dayton listed an interest in four family trusts that held more than three dozen stocks. His statement said the securities in one trust provide him with income, but that he has no control over them. Dayton receives no income from the other three trusts, but could receive up to a fourth of their assets after his father dies.

Gary Goldsmith, executive director of the Campaign Finance Board, said that under state law Dayton is not required to disclose the three trusts that don't provide income.

Unlike GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer and Independence Party candidate Tom Horner, Dayton released his income tax returns this year, although they don't reveal the extent of his assets in the blind family trusts.

Pat Doyle • 651-222-1210