WASHINGTON -- Councilman Marion Barry owes D.C. money, according to the Feds.
Well, of course he does. They're talking about taxes, and Mayor for Life doesn't file taxes. At least not on time.
Federal prosecutors filed court documents Thursday afternoon saying Barry hasn't paid D.C. back taxes since July, the City Paper reported. This is in addition to failing to file his federal taxes on time in eight of nine years, even after being slapped on the hand for his delinquency.
Barry's federal back taxes are taken out of his paycheck, but his wages are not garnished to pay his District debt, according to his attorney, Fred Cooke. There was a dispute with D.C. tax officials about how much Barry would pay, Cooke said.
Barry was given three years of probation in 2006 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges for failing to file his tax returns from 1999 to 2004. Two years ago, prosecutors sought to have that probation revoked after Barry failed to file his 2005 taxes on time. A judge refused, saying prosecutors didn't prove Barry willfully or intentionally failed to file on time.
Then, Barry didn't file his 2007 taxes until last month. He blamed that on a bum kidney rather than some pathological aversion to this particular civic duty. According to court papers, Barry did owe federal and District income taxes for 2007.
Kidney failure is the culprit again. Everything's OK with his new kidney, but hospitalization for that transplant interfered with Barry's ability to pay after he worked out a new payment plan with the District, Cooke said.
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The latest delinquency revelation came in documents filed ahead of an April 2 hearing on a motion to revoke Barry's probation, the City Paper reported. The documents cite Barry's failure to prove to the probation office by Feb. 8 that he had filed his 2007 taxes and was paying his back taxes.
Of course, prosecutors still think Barry should be locked up.
"He should be sentenced to some period of incarceration, such as weekends or community confinement," the documents read. "In the alternative, a two-year extension of his probabtion should be imposed."
Barry owes almost $277,700 in back taxes, according to court documents.
