City Council member owes thousands

By Cameron McWhirter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta City Council member H. Lamar Willis, running for a third-term this year, owes thousands in state taxes, according to liens filed with Fulton County courts.

Willis, who has held an at-large citywide post since 2002, owes almost $44,000 in back taxes and fines — and that’s after the state garnished his and his wife’s wages for the past year to pay off more than $11,000 in back taxes. Willis, an attorney, did not respond to telephone calls and e-mails from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for comment.

The liens stem from a 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation into financial irregularities with Willis’ self-named foundation. The newspaper found the councilman raised tens of thousands of dollars from area corporations for years while claiming his foundation was a federally-approved tax-exempt organization. It wasn’t. The Internal Revenue Service said the foundation never applied for tax-exempt status and never filed mandatory annual financial reports. The foundation also never registered as either a charity or a nonprofit group with the Georgia Secretary of State, as required by law.

In September 2007, Willis told the AJC that a lawyer and an accountant were reviewing his finances and he would make their findings public. To this date, Willis has made no public accounting of the defunct foundation’s finances.

In 2008, the state Department of Revenue filed two liens against Willis, one for $42,335 in unpaid corporate taxes for the foundation, and one for $11,308 in personal taxes. The state said the liens were for unpaid taxes for the years 2002 to 2006. The corporate tax lien has not been paid, but the state garnished the councilman’s wages and his wife’s to satisfy the personal tax debt.

On Aug. 28 , the state filed a new lien against Willis, this time for sales taxes of $1,560.16. The state is asserting Willis purchased a vehicle in 2005 and did not pay state sales tax.

State Department of Revenue spokesman Reg Lansberry would not comment. Under law, Willis would have to file a lawsuit if he wished to dispute the assessments. Penalties and interest accrue monthly if a lien is not paid. The state also adds a collection fee.

A review of current tax liens for other council members found that Natalyn Mosby Archibong, who represents District 5 on the east side, had a lien of $2,097.37 for 2008 DeKalb County property taxes filed this January. However, DeKalb County Tax Commissioner Claudia Lawson said the taxes were paid in February. Due to a computing error, the lien was not listed as being paid. Archibong said she had no idea about the error until contacted by the AJC.