The question did not come during the forum hosted by Patch.com and Arlington Independent Media, which will be broadcast on the cable channel this week, but in a hasty interview after the debate as she attempted to leave the building.
In a room a few feet from the AIM studio, Bondi who is seeking the Democratic nomination for county board, reiterated what has already been reported in the Mercury and elsewhere, that she found out about the lien when it was posted online and that the first thing she did was call the IRS and ask for all the documents regarding her case.
In that lien, the IRS claims that she owes nearly $20,000 in income tax from the 2005 and 2006 tax years.
“I believe it is an error by the IRS,” she said.
IRS procedures say that before issuing the lien, it sends warning letters, and sometimes make phone calls to people the agency believes owe taxes.
Under federal law, the IRS may not speak about any specific case, so the IRS could not confirm or deny that letters were sent. However, the agency can supply basic rules and guidelines, said Mark Hanson with IRS Media Relations.
Bondi confirmed that the address listed on the lien is hers, but when pressed about whether she received IRS warning letters, she said she was waiting to see what is in the IRS file.
The problem has been plaguing Bondi and her campaign since the lien was revealed Sunday night on the Arlington Yupette blog. Along with the lien that was filed in the Arlington/Falls Church Circuit Court, a FOIA request by a local activist exposed that Bondi had been delinquent when paying her personal property taxes on her car in 2004 and 2005.
“We had to pursue her and to threaten to seize her car,” Arlington County Treasurer Frank O’Leary (D) said in an interview Wednesday. It took three or four notices sent to Bondi, but “At that point she did pay.”
He said his office sends out about 155,000 tax bills annually and pursues 4,000 to 5,000 delinquent payers, about 3 percent. The county considers someone who is two weeks late to be delinquent. Kim Klingler, who is also running for the Democratic nomination, paid her personal property taxes late by a few days on two occasions, according to the documents provided by O’Leary’s office.
Latest Comments
Unpaid Taxes
Posted by Peter January 22, 2012 13:21:20
Bondi Should GO
Posted by clarendonmike January 19, 2012 19:01:58
Melissa's tax problems
Posted by Pate Mc Cullough January 18, 2012 19:08:45
Really?
Posted by ArlingtonWoman January 16, 2012 13:06:43