Capps Maldonado tax controversies

August 3, 2012

Following an election-cycle challenge that her competitor Abel Maldonado post his tax returns, Congresswoman Lois Capps discovered that for five years she had not reported income from a room she rents out.

Capps discovered the error while placing her returns online as part of her challenge to Maldonado. The unreported income from 2001 through 2005 was paid by one of Capps’ congressional staffers who  rented a room in the congresswoman’s house.

Capps responded to the discovery by filing amended tax returns earlier this year that included the formerly $41,800 in unreported income. Capps paid $8,819 in back taxes because of the undisclosed income.

“Once I realized there was a mistake, I immediately fixed it,” Capps said. “I would hope my opponent would do the same.”

Maldonado is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the IRS over more than $4 million in taxes the IRS says he and his family business owe partially because of allegedly claiming personal purchases as business expenses. Maldonado disputes the IRS’s claims’

In response to Capps’ challenge, Maldonado said he would release his 2011 tax return by June 22. He, however, has still not posted any of his tax returns on his campaign website.

“As soon as we became aware of this earlier this year, Lois immediately filed an amended return and cleared it up right away,” said Capps’ campaign spokesperson Jeff Millman. “The amended returns are on her website and everybody can look at them. And this is exactly why it’s so important for Mr. Maldonado to publicly release his taxes for every year he’s been in public office, to make sure that he has properly paid what he owes.”