According to the Senate report, Kirk’s nomination team informed the Finance Committee’s staff that in October, the mayor paid $2,188 in additional taxes and $139 in interest for 2006 after the IRS notified him that he failed to report speaking honoraria. The return was prepared by a paid tax preparer and filed jointly with his wife, the report said.
After reviewing Kirk’s tax returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007, the Finance Committee staff submitted several questions to Kirk last month involving the speaking engagements, and Kirk provided written responses.
According to the report, Kirk had “routinely asked” that his speaking honoraria be given to Austin College, his alma mater, to help fulfill a pledge he made to the college for a scholarship fund. Neither he nor his tax preparer thought the honoraria were taxable income, according to the report. The honoraria should have been reported as income and then deducted as charitable donations, the report said.
In all, Kirk failed to report $37,750 in honoraria for speaking engagements between 2004 and 2007, the report said.
-By Josh Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6637; joshua.mitchell@dowjones.com
The way I read that is honest mistake...if its true. The problem is, if these people are to stupid to figure out the tax codes with their teams of attys and accts what chance do we have? Does this not scream the need for a flat tax or some type of Tax Code Simplification???
And how much money is this guy making that 40 grand is so inconsequential it is proverbial chump change to him???