MSNBC hosts don't pay taxes?

E

egofed

CAGiversary!
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/04/msnbcs-melissa-harrisperry-owes-in-delinquent-taxes-205646.html

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry and her husband, James Perry, owe about $70,000 in delinquent taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, the Winston-Salem Journal reported Thursday.

The IRS filed a tax lien on the Perrys on April 6 for the outstanding debt, which is from 2013. In an email to the Winston-Salem Journal, Harris-Perry said she was unaware of the tax lien but knew about the debt and that she and her husband had paid $21,721 toward the total owed. She said personal crises had caused them to pay off the debt slower than expected.

“We were aware that we would continue to need to work to pay off the 2013 debt,” Harris-Perry wrote in the email.

Harris-Perry hosts MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry" show on weekend mornings and is also presidential chair at Wake Forest University, where she attended college.

An MSNBC spokesperson declined to comment on the tax lien.

Harris-Perry is not the first MSNBC host to owe taxes to the IRS. In November, The New York Times reported that the Rev. Al Sharpton had "more than $4.5 million in current state and federal tax liens against him and his for-profit businesses." The same report found that Sharpton's taxes with the state of New York were growing, even as he and his National Action Network "repeatedly failed to pay travel agencies, hotels and landlords."

Hypocrisy? Stupidity? How can you preach about income inequality and the need for more gov't social programs while not paying your own taxes? Jackasses.....

 
Here we go, now someone will post prominent Fox News hosts or republicans that have unpaid taxes. Round and round we'll go until everyone loses interest.
 
I don't watch MSNBC or have much idea who this woman is but, according to the article, she has a payment plan arranged with the IRS.  So she's not dodging her taxes or refusing to pay them, she just somehow mismanaged her tax debt and is working to correct that (and paying a hefty penalty for the pleasure, given the IRS).  The IRS, as it is wont to do, has placed a lien against her house until the debt is settled.  I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be outraged about.

I mean, I could see outrage if the IRS didn't place the lien and she was getting some sort of special treatment or if she just refused to pay or had all of her money stashed away in an overseas account but... just having tax problems you're trying to resolve?

 
I haven't read much either, because I believe this shows to be more of an example of the flaws in out tax system vs anything else - but w/r/t the individual, I think the question would be did she come forth after she found the issue or did it take the IRS finding the issue before she got set up on payment plans, etc.?
 
Syntax Error said:
I don't watch MSNBC or have much idea who this woman is but, according to the article, she has a payment plan arranged with the IRS. So she's not dodging her taxes or refusing to pay them, she just somehow mismanaged her tax debt and is working to correct that (and paying a hefty penalty for the pleasure, given the IRS). The IRS, as it is wont to do, has placed a lien against her house until the debt is settled. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be outraged about.

I mean, I could see outrage if the IRS didn't place the lien and she was getting some sort of special treatment or if she just refused to pay or had all of her money stashed away in an overseas account but... just having tax problems you're trying to resolve?
Click to expand...
Rev Al Sharpton and Mrs Perry speak at great length on the need for more tax money for social programs and the unfairness of income inequality while currently both being in arrears with the IRS. I find it quite hilarious. Outrage....not so much, I'm used to liberals (and conservatives unfortunately) failing to walk the walk while talking the talk. O:) Kinda like Rush talking about drug users and criminals in a disparaging manner.

Does Sharpton just have more kickass lawyers than Wesley Snipes? They sent Blade's ass to jail for tax evasion.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
UncleBob said:
I haven't read much either, because I believe this shows to be more of an example of the flaws in out tax system vs anything else - but w/r/t the individual, I think the question would be did she come forth after she found the issue or did it take the IRS finding the issue before she got set up on payment plans, etc.?
Click to expand...
We don't know anything about the issue so who knows? Maybe she thought everything was great until she got audited and it turned out she had been filling a line incorrectly for the past five years. Maybe she has an accountant who was screwing it up and she just signed the papers every year assuming he knew what he was doing. Or maybe she saw she had an expectantly giant tax bill and didn't have the money for other reasons and had to set up payments. In any event, I don't see anything that she's done "wrong" though. Having a bunch of taxes doesn't make you a hypocrite or a bad person provided you're sincerely trying to correct the problem.

I can't speak for Sharpton because I don't know anything about his taxes (and he didn't have a story linked in the OP) and I don't care enough to look for myself. If someone proved that Sharpton was the biggest hypocrite ever, it wouldn't affect me any.

 
Only two hosts isnt really that many and Sharpton and Perry are B and C list anchors on that channel. Still its sad, I just do not understand having that much money and not paying your taxes. There have been so many studies done that show that after a certain point money stops bringing you happiness. It has to be in part because of stuff like this, it just adds needless stress to your life.

 
It didn't say that she doesn't pay her taxes (as in, she didn't just refuse to file).  She could have filed wrong, or her accountant screwed up, or she didn't have the cash to pay an unexpected tax hit or whatever.

I generally support tax-funded social programs.  If tomorrow I got a letter saying that an internal audit of my last decade's taxes shows that I filed wrong and now need to pay an extra $40,000 I would need to set up some sort of plan and the IRS would put a lien on my house until I paid it.  Would that mean I was a hypocrite for supporting social programs now that I'm in trouble with the IRS?  The two aren't really related.

Now, if I just evaded my taxes -- if I refused to file or hid my income -- then I'd be a hypocrite when I said that someone needed to pay more taxes or how we needed more tax-funded programs or, conversely, if I complained about how my taxes were being spent. 

 
I bet all the multimillionaires who find themselves in tax-trouble would like you to give them the same benefit of the doubt that their lack of tax monies was due to "accountant error" as well. :D
 
I rarely bother to learn of or have opinions about random multimillionaires with tax problems.  That said, it would again depend on what the tax problems were.

Snipes, for instance, just didn't pay his taxes.  He made that choice willingly.  He also made it based on some terrible advice but the fact remains that he made a conscious decision to evade his taxes.  That doesn't get much sympathy from me.

Anyway, even if it is "accountant error", that doesn't make one less liable to pay the fines.  Just like the MSNBC host should pay whatever her burden plus fines are.  It just doesn't necessarily make her a "hypocrite".

 
In fairness to them, they probably didn't know MSNBC had enough money to pay on-air talent, so it never occurred to them to see if they were receiving money that needed to be taxed.

 
Just popped in to say that I'm glad to see egofed post again. I'm glad he didn't get killed in the line of duty cause being an EMT is TOUGH WORK!!!

 
dohdough said:
Just popped in to say that I'm glad to see egofed post again. I'm glad he didn't get killed in the line of duty cause being an EMT is TOUGH WORK!!!
Click to expand...
Thanks, bro! I was away on vacation. Got some decent surf and saw some amazing things. Being able to turn taking 5 and a half days off into twenty actual days off is great. I day traded one day during my time off and made $3200 profit! I think it is time for me to leave the fire service and just trade from here on out. I have finally learned that only suckas actually work for a living.... :bouncy:

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top