The Reverend Al Sharpton has had an eventful year, providing a booming voice for civil rights in the wake of the death of Eric Garner during an arrest attempt on Staten Island and the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
But while the reverend is experiencing unprecedented social and political heights, he is haunted by $4.5 million in state and federal taxes unpaid by him and his nonprofit the National Action Network, The New York Times reported. He alone faces federal tax liens of over $3 million.
Sharpton said he's paying off the debt, made easier by a surge in donations from new corporate and political friends in high places, such as the $1 million grossed in by his fund-raiser 60th birthday bash in Manhattan last month.
But in the last few years his nonprofit has slipped behind on federal tax payments, underpaying $900,000 in 2003, according to records obtained by The NY Times. That number reached close to $1.9 million by 2006. The group owed about the same in 2009.
Financial statements indicate the National Action Network was able to keep operating all this time by relying on money that was supposed to go towards paying payroll taxes on its employees. Meanwhile, the organization was footing the bill for Sharpton's expenses, such as a failed bid at the 2004 presidential nomination and sometimes paying his daughter's private school tuition, according to the newspaper.
Sharpton has also given up his salary and provided loans to keep the nonprofit in business, as the group's accountant noted in 2007 and 2008.
"These circumstances create substantial doubt about the organization's ability to continue as a going concern," the accountant wrote according to the newspaper.
The reverend, however, said the underpayments are a reflection of the I.R.S.'s demand the business classifies some of its workers as employees instead of independent contractors. A 2007 I.R.S. investigation subsequently depleted the network's resources, he told the NY Times.
Sharpton also said the tax liens stem from the I.R.S. ordering him to turn over money earned from his speeches, which he gave to his organization. He also said he is up to date on payments for state and federal liens and that the amount shown on the records is much higher than what is owed.
"You can say I'm not a good administrator," Sharpton told the NY Times. "You can't say that I'm not committed."
