Tax Lawyer's Blog

This blog comes to you courtesy of Reverend Pete:

Devlin Barret of the Associated Press reports,

Federal auditors have concluded the Rev. Al Sharpton’s 2004 campaign owes the government nearly $500,000 for illegal donations and other financial improprieties. Sharpton has been feuding with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for years over his accounting in his failed run for president, for which he received $100,000 in so-called government matching funds that authorities later concluded he did not deserve because he hadn’t followed campaign laws.

The auditors have now determined that Sharpton owes $486,803 to the U.S. Treasury because of his campaign’s taking improper donations, largely from the National Action Network, a not-for-profit corporation that Sharpton leads but is separate from his campaign committee.

Sharpton ran for President in 2004 and campaigned in churches where people donated “love offerings” of the type that are typically given to preachers.** The FEC found that some of Sharpton’s campaign costs were paid directly by the National Action Network and another company, Rev-Als Production Inc.

Sharpton will appeal the finding, aides said Friday, which would extend an already years-long fight with the government over how he raised and spent money to run for president.

The audit report is “a gross violation of Reverend Al Sharpton’s right to perform his paid duties as president of the National Action Network, a traveling minister, lecturer, and an author who was promoting a book during the time period being audited,” said his spokeswoman, Rachel Noerdlinger.

According to the FEC report, neither Sharpton, NAN nor Rev-Als kept adequate records that showed what payments were made for which travel. There was, the report stated,

[N]early complete failure to produce any information on this subject in the course of the audit.

The FEC assessment is not Sharpton & Company’s only problem.

Last summer the IRS filed a $931,397 lien against Sharpton and New York city and state officials said he owned them $933,577 on top of that.  And that’s not all: Sharpton’s National Action Network showed in its most recent tax filing that it owed $1.9 million in payroll taxes, penalties and interest.

No word yet on whether and to what extent the FEC  . . .  and the IRS  . . . and the city of New York . . .  and the state of New York have conspired to pursue the Very Reverend merely because of the color of his skin.

**Sharpton calls himself a Reverend. I wonder, what are the qualifications for this title?  Is there a license for it? Is the “profession” regulated in any way? Or can anyone call themselves “Reverend?”.

Shout Out:

Michael Rozbruch of Tax Resolution University for giving me the idea for this post.

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