Please, No More Tax Delinquents In The State House…

It’s a bizarre irony when the Beacon Hill folks (excuse me, Democrats) who push for raising taxes and overturning the will of the voters to remove a tax cut are the exact same people who have a problem paying their own taxes. Isn’t it about time we say “no” to tax delinquents in the State House?

The best thing for voters to do is completely avoid getting these tax deadbeats in office. Voters in the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex districts have that opportunity in their laps. Sara Orozco, Democrat challenger to Senator Scott Brown, finished paying taxes from two years ago in January.

State financial disclosure forms show that state Senate candidate Sara Orozco finished paying off back taxes in January that she had owed from 2005.

Orozco, a Needham Democrat, said the taxes were paid off through an installment plan, with a final payment of $1,500 to $2,000 coming on January 24.

A psychologist, Orozco said the situation surfaced in 2005 when she started a practice on her own and became self employed.

She said she made estimated tax payments that year based on what she thought she would earn from her practice.

Business good But by the end of the year, her business had picked up and she made more money that she and her accountant had estimated. It turned out she owed the Internal Revenue Service more taxes.

The state forms said the total was between $5,001 and $10,000.

The IRS allowed her to set up a payment plan and she had regular payments deducted on time from her checking account, she said.

“The payments were made in a timely and responsible manner,” she said.

Peggy Riley, a spokeswoman for the IRS, said she could not comment on a specific case because of privacy laws.

However, she said an installment plan for back taxes is an option the IRS makes available to all taxpayers.

Not such a big deal, right? You might say that, but why is it that she took years to payoff a $5,000-$10,000 tax bill but was still able to loan her campaign $10,000 in the space of four months? According to OCPF filings, Sara Orozco made the following loans to her campaign:

5/2/2008: $5,000
6/26/2008: $2,000
8/22/2008: $3,000

I understand that some people can run into a hard time with their taxes, especially small business owners. It is also good that she did actually pay off her back taxes, but if you can afford to give your own political campaign a $10,000 check while slowly paying off up to $10,000 in back taxes, well, it seems to me that if she was able to make those campaign loans so quickly, she likely could have paid her taxes off quicker.

The Committee to Elect Sara Orozco also made the following donations to the Democratic State Committee:

5/2/2008: $250.00
5/29/2008: $200.00
10/3/2008: $10,000.00
10/7/2008: $4,500.00

Did she come into a lot of money at the beginning of May of this year? Seems strange that she’s been able to loan her campaign $10,000 and donate nearly $15,000 to the Democratic State Committee, all since May.

Does anyone else find it odd she could make $25,000 in political loans and donations since May… but two years to pay off $10,000 to the IRS?