Idaho Supreme Court nails Rep. Hart on unpaid taxes
April 30, 2012
Idaho: This week, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld previous rulings on Representative Phil Hart and his failure to pay income taxes. The owed taxes stretch back to 1996, when Hart stopped filing federal and state income tax returns in protest over their perceived unconstitutionality. He resumed payments, but according to the IRS is hundreds of thousands of dollars behind schedule. In addition, the Idaho Tax Commission found that Hart owed them $53,523 in back taxes as of 2009, which continue to accrue interest.[1]
The issue decided by the court was not the legality of collecting taxes in general, but whether Hart waited too long to file his initial appeal and if his most recent hearing should have been delayed, since he was participating in lawmaking in the Idaho House of Representatives. On the first point, two government bodies had already deemed that the six months Hart waited is much longer than the 91 day appeal period, and that his work as a legislator would not sway that point. As to the second point, an exception was provided by First Judicial District Judge John Mitchell. Mitchell found that since that hearing just relied on legal arguments of the attorneys, Hart was not required to be there. He was however, able to call in by phone, which he refused to do.[1]
On November 5, Hart will appear before U.S. District of Idaho Judge Edward Lodge for a federal tax trial. The IRS claims that Representative Hart owes the United States $550,000 in back taxes.[2]
See also
- UPDATE: Rep. Hart has no course of appeal in Idaho tax case, June 26, 2012
Footnotes
| |||||
