[Vision2020] Attorneys tackle Hart tax appeal

[Tom Hansen]

"Hart faced multiple ethics complaints in the Idaho House over the past year, both over his tax issues and over his theft of timber from state school endowment land in 1996 to build his log home in Athol, for which he never fully paid an outstanding judgment."

Courtesy of today's (September 24, 2011) Spokesman-Review.

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Attorneys tackle Hart tax appeal
His status as legislator doesn’t apply, state says


BOISE – Idaho Rep. Phil Hart seems to be arguing that different rules apply to him because he’s a state legislator, attorneys for the Idaho State Tax Commission said in court filings recently.

Hart is appealing to the Idaho Supreme Court an order that he pay more than $53,000 in back state income taxes, penalties and interest for tax years 1996 to 2004. The recent filing was in response to that appeal.

“Appellant appears to be arguing that his status as a legislator excuses him from the requirement to file a timely appeal,” the state attorneys wrote. Hart, a tax protester who stopped filing both federal and state income tax returns for three years in the 1990s, had 91 days to appeal the order to pay but waited more than six months, saying the legislative session entitled him to more time. His appeal was rejected because it was too late, a decision he’s now appealed five times.


Hart, a fourth-term Republican from Athol, cites a clause in the Idaho Constitution that exempts lawmakers from arrest or “civil process” during legislative sessions and 10 days before they begin.

Deputy Attorney General Bill von Tagen wrote in the state’s court filing that the point of such clauses is to make sure lawmakers aren’t prevented from attending sessions. In this case, he wrote, Hart isn’t defending himself against a civil process filed against him – he’s the one who initiated the appeal.

By Hart’s argument, von Tagen wrote, any administrative proceeding in which a legislator is involved could be put on hold, creating potential chaos.

“If appellant’s arguments were taken to their logical conclusions, during a legislative session legislators who were livestock operators could ignore administrative orders to quarantine diseased livestock … legislators who were restaurateurs could ignore administrative orders tagging adulterated food or refusing routine health inspections … and legislators who were pharmacists could ignore administrative orders for inspections of their records and/or inventories. … The public health and safety might well suffer.”

Hart’s first court appeal in his state income tax case charged that Idaho’s state income tax is unconstitutional; that argument wasn’t considered because the appeal was thrown out for being filed too late.

Hart now has another week to file his reply to the state’s response, and then the case can be set for arguments before the Supreme Court, which likely won’t happen before April.

Hart, who unsuccessfully sued the IRS claiming the federal income tax was unconstitutional, has sought delays in his state and federal tax cases five times due to his duties as a state legislator.

The IRS has filed hundreds of thousands of dollars in liens against Hart and two trusts he created – one that owns his Athol home and another that owns his engineering firm. Though Hart contends he started filing returns again after he lost his federal lawsuit and has made substantial payments, federal and state authorities maintain he still hasn’t fully paid up.

Hart faced multiple ethics complaints in the Idaho House over the past year, both over his tax issues and over his theft of timber from state school endowment land in 1996 to build his log home in Athol, for which he never fully paid an outstanding judgment. Hart was removed from the House Tax Committee and agreed to give up his vice chairmanship of the House Transportation Committee to avoid ethics sanctions; he apologized to the full House in February.

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Esto perpetua, V-peeps.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 


 
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