D.C. City Council member and former Mayor Marion Barry announced last Friday that he would pay $4,250 in back taxes by yesterday. No word yet on whether he did. Federal prosecutors estimate that Barry still owes $277,688.05 in back federal taxes, penalties, and interest, and an undisclosed sum of D.C. taxes. A hearing is scheduled for April 16 to consider revoking Barry’s probation, for failure to file his 2007 taxes in a timely manner. In 2006, Barry agreed to pay $343,206 in back taxes stemming from his failure to file taxes from 1999 to 2004, a time when he was not in public office. Barry currently earns about $125,000 a year as a D.C. City Council member. The prosecutor (via TaxProf Blog): The Court’s patience should be at an end. The defendant continues to flout the standards applicable to all persons who reside in the District of Columbia, who work for a living, and who pay a portion of their income to support his salary. In addition, the defendant has wasted the time of this Court, the probation office, and the government by his recalcitrance to file the tax returns required of every citizen. By adding yet an eighth year to his record of willfully failing to file tax returns (while serving a federal probationary sentence for that very crime), the defendant exposes his unworthiness to reap the benefits of a lenient sanction.
