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Letson owes $37,417 in taxes to IRS
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State Rep. Thomas Letson of Warren, D-64th
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
State Rep. Thomas Letson of Warren, D-64th, owes an unpaid balance of $37,417 to the Internal Revenue Service and an additional $1,044 to the Trumbull County treasurer’s office for property taxes he didn’t pay last year.
The IRS filed a notice of federal-tax lien against Letson in the Trumbull County recorder’s office Dec. 28, stating that Letson owes $37,427 as a result of an IRS assessment levied against him June 1, 2009.
The lien notice says the $37,417 is for taxes and possibly interest and penalties. It says the assessment is related to a 1040 tax return for 2006, but it gives no further information as to the reason for the assessment.
Jennifer Jenkins, an IRS spokesperson, said the IRS cannot give out information on a person’s tax return.
Letson did not return a phone call seeking comment.
The IRS website says a notice of federal tax lien is filed after the IRS sends a taxpayer notice and demand for payment and the payment is not fully made within 10 days.
The notice publicly tells creditors that the IRS has a claim against the taxpayer’s property. The notice also is used by courts to establish priority in certain situations, such as bankruptcy proceedings and real-estate sales, the website says.
The lien attaches to all property, such as the taxpayer’s house or car and to all rights to property, such as accounts receivable of a business, the website says.
Meanwhile, Letson, 59, an attorney who was re-elected to his third term in the Legislature in November, didn’t pay his first-half property taxes of $940 on his home on Tod Avenue Northwest when they were due Aug. 5, 2010.
A 10 percent penalty plus interest added another $104, for a total of back taxes owed of $1,044.
Sam Lamancusa, Trumbull County treasurer, said Trumbull County’s property-tax delinquency rate is about 12 percent right now and reached 14 percent in 2009, at the height of the recession.
The rate was 13 percent in 2010.
The previous high delinquency rate was around 17 percent in the early 1980s, during another economic downturn.
The 64th District includes Warren, Warren Township, Cortland, Champion, Howland, Braceville, Bristol, Mecca, Southington, West Farmington, Farmington and parts of Bazetta and Fowler.