Legislators want peers to pay up

Nearly 10 percent of Georgia’s state lawmakers are tax dodgers, the head of the state’s Department of Revenue said Wednesday.

Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham said 22 of the 236 current members of the state Legislature have run afoul of his department, with some legislators failing to file tax returns for years, some dating back to 2002.

“There are members of both [political] parties on these lists,” Graham told a Senate committee looking for ways to crack down on tax evaders. “These are people who have not filed repeatedly.”

Some have failed to file state income tax returns or pay outstanding tax liabilities, and some face levies and garnishments, Graham said.

He has provided leaders in both legislative chambers a list of 19 lawmakers who have failed to file state income taxes. Those lawmakers’ names are redacted on that list because no liens have yet been filed against them. Until the liens are filed, those names are confidential under state law.

Graham on Wednesday said three other lawmakers have had levies or garnishments imposed on them by his department. He declined to name those lawmakers.

Both House and Senate leaders are looking for ways to clamp down on the tax cheats. A Senate bill introduced this week would let state senators more quickly investigate tax scofflaws who serve in the state Legislature.

Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) introduced Senate Resolution 452, which would allow the Revenue Department to file a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee on slacker legislators.

Such a move would speed the flow of information on legislators who don’t pay the piper and could result more quickly in a public reprimand or a recommendation for removal from office, Johnson said.

“It’s hypocritical. It’s arrogant, and we need to stop it,” Johnson said of the failure of legislators to pay taxes.

“People are not above the law, particularly legislators,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown (R-Macon) opposes the bill, saying it could give birth to political persecution using personal information.

Brown offered himself as an example of someone who filed an extension on his 2007 tax return.

“I have not filed, but I have filed an extension,” Brown said. “That is something that is legitimate to do.”

“It’s not that I’m not paying taxes,” Brown said.

“I probably don’t owe any,” he said.

Brown said he does not know if his name is on the list. Graham said that simply filing an extension is not enough to make the list.

State Rep. Joe Wilkinson (R-Sandy Springs), who chairs the House Ethics Committee, meanwhile, has asked legislative counsel to clearly define whether dodging taxes constitutes “misconduct” in office. It is not spelled out under current law, Wilkinson said.