Sharpton owes nearly $1.5 million in back taxes

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Sharpton owes nearly $1.5 million in back taxes
U.S. attorney delves into unflappable civil rights leader's non-profit group

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24545747/

NEW YORK - Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor's mansion.

The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation's most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan's major bridges and tunnels.

But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and associated penalties.

Now the U.S. attorney is investigating his nonprofit group, an inquiry that an undeterred Sharpton brushes off as the kind of annoyance that civil rights figures have come to expect from the government.

"Whatever retaliation they do on me, we never stop," Sharpton said. "I think that that is why they try to intimidate us."



The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as New York City's most prominent civil rights leader. Government records indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and penalties.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Let's not forget

that, back in the days, the good Rev. Al was an FBI informant.

[Deja Q]

2. Hmmm, did Willie Nelson teach him how to write songs?

Seems we've had the celebrity "I'm a fugly little tax cheat, yes I am!"* song before...


* to the tune of "I'm a little teapot, short and stout".

[Trajan]

3. I admire what Rev. Sharpton does for citizens ...

But like those citizens, he HAS to pay his taxes ....

I am still paying regular payments for serious under-withholding in 2006. 10 months to go ....

You can deny the credit card companies, the car financiers, walk away from an upside down mortgage and many other such choices one can make, but you cannot walk away from your tax burden ....

As a Progressive who believes (like the Reverend) that our government must use some of the revenues from taxation to provide basic institutions for all citizens, such as public education and the infrastructure of the commons, the Reverend MUST understand he also has to contribute to that cause, if he has the ability.

[ThomWV]

4. Poor Fellow. They are merciless bastards if you ask me.

[L. Coyote]

5. Maybe his buddy Roger Stone can cover that!!