Abel Maldonado’s mounting tax troubles

May 31, 2012

Abel Maldonado

Central Coast  Republican congressional candidate Abel Maldonado and his family business are embroiled in a legal battle with the IRS over more than $4 million in taxes the IRS says they owe partially because of allegedly claiming personal purchases as business expenses. [LATimes]

In April, the former  Lieutenant Governor said he was severing ties with the family farm he owns a third of in Santa Maria after court records showed he and his wife owed the government $470,000 in unpaid taxes.

In addition, The Times reviewed court records and discovered the IRS says the Maldonado family business, Agro-Jal, also underpaid its taxes $3.6 million between 2006 and 2008. The Maldonados are currently in settlement discussions with the IRS.

“This dispute involves a lot of very complex accounting issues that other small businesses are attempting to navigate on a daily basis…. I want this resolved, and the second we get a bill that correctly defines our tax liability, it will be paid,” Maldonado said in a statement on Wednesday.

While the bulk of the multimillion-dollar dispute stems from complex accounting methods and questions about how to deduct the cost of a cooling facility and crates and boxes used to ship produce, the IRS also contends the Maldonados used the business to pay for items such as thousands of dollars in renovations to Able Maldonado’s home and a possible fundraiser for his campaign for state Senate, where he served before becoming lieutenant governor.

At the time, Maldonado listed himself as Agro-Jal’s controller/auditor on his state-required financial filings, The Times said.

The IRS has challenged deductions by Agro-Jal that appear to show no apparent benefit for the business. They included $20,000 worth of memberships at the Santa Maria golf club, work on a residence at a resort community near Palm Springs, and the cost of two horses on the farm.

The IRS also claims about a dozen pickup trucks were driven for personal use by company officers including Maldonado’s father, mother, and sister.

In July 2010, the Maldonado family challenged the IRS claiming that Agro-Jal’s deductions were legal and that the IRS had vastly inflated its tax bill.


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He’s a republican, he is my man. Little change would be a good thing. Anyway I like his suit.


Mr. “Little change”


Got that right. “Didn’t learn the first time” also applies.


This is what Republicans do. They find ways to make tons of money, some times legally, some times not, often by exploiting and cheating others. Then, they either game the system so they don’t pay taxes like ordinary people have to (i/4 billionaire Willard Romney has paid Federal income taxes between 11% to 14%…about half what typical Americans do ), or, they simply cheat .

Billionaire Diane Hendricks of Wisconsin paid no state income taxes ., so she then ‘donates’ $510,000 to Republican Scott Walker and is caught on videotape asking what she can do to make Wisconsin a “red state” a “right-to-work state (i.e. = no unions ).

It’s always the same with these selfish anti-civilizationalists.


And politicians of both stripes use the power they get to harass opponents. Some (not all) of these IRS claims seem very trivial to me. Is there any chance that someone under Obama doesn’t want a strong challenge to an incumbent congresswoman and is pressuring the IRS to do some campaign dirty work?


Note that I am not accusing Ms. Capps here. But I am sure that the Democratic Party wants to keep a reliable vote in the House and there are as many unsavory characters in that organization as in the GOP.


Typical false equivalency without supporting documentation. Just a strawman thrown out there to distract the gullible.


Are their examples of “unsavory characters” that are/were Democrats ? Sure, but I submit that it is an assymetric equation. For every one questionable that is of Democratic persuasion, I would challenge that I could name ten Republicans of ill repute.


Here, I help you: Democratic voyeur and liar Anthony Wiener…. Republicans Tom DeLay, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, Darrell Issa, Pete Hoekstra, Virginia Fox, Newt Gingrich, Chip Cravack, Cathie McMorris Rodgers, Trent Franks…..

all past or present House of Representatives members.


His rise to power is nothing short of amazing. They say that behind every fortune is a crime.


If people believe the story of pea picker to owner of a large farming operation and cooling facility, I’ve a bridge I need to sell.


Wonder what Capps and Mitchum are hiding? Life is a loophole and those who find it….