(Updated) NM-02: Tinsley Penalized by IRS for Failing to Turn in Employee Payroll Taxes

Update: An October 14, 2008 article in the Albuquerque Journal confirms that Ed Tinsley was penalized for not paying IRS employee withholding taxes for one of his restaurants. The Journal also reports that Tinsley, after much legal wrangling, ended up having to pay penalties and interest totalling $65,000 out of the original $122,000 levied by the IRS. Tinsley's attorney claims Tinsley "paid the price for the slow pace of the IRS in resolving the issue." These Republicans -- always blaming someone else instead of owning up to their own lack of accountability.
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A recent AP story had this to report about Ed Tinsley, the GOP Congressional candidate in NM-02, who often cites his education and experience as the owner of K-Bob's steakhouses as something that has prepared him well to serve in Congress:

Small details matter to rancher Ed Tinsley, the Republican nominee in the 2nd Congressional District race.

He'll pore over contracts, analyzing fine print to ensure he understands what he's studying. It's a trait Tinsley attributes to his law school training; an asset he feels will serve him well in the House of Representatives.

"It will help me formulate positions and understand how the system works," he said. "You learn to understand parts of contracts, the terms. That's important when you start looking at legislation."

... "The legal education and the short time I practiced taught me what I'd call a critical way of thinking," said Tinsley, a member in the New Mexico and Texas bars.

Run-In With the IRS
Problem is, despite his degrees in accounting and the law, Tinsley's actions don't always show careful attention to detail, or to the letter of the law. And it's clear that he has sometimes been neglectful of his business and legal oversight responsibilities -- as demonstrated by a run-in with the IRS over non-payment of employee payroll taxes at one of his restaurants. At least that's what I get from two legal documents: K-Bob's Appeal of a Notice of Determination concerning an IRS collection action and the U.S government's Answer to the K-Bob's appeal (PDFs).

I'm no lawyer, but it certainly appears that in US District Court of New Mexico Case No. CIV-06-0309, Tinsley was penalized $122,000 by the IRS for failing to turn in payroll taxes for the periods ending 9/99, 12/99, 3/00, 9/00, 12/00, 6/01 and 12/01. How did that happen?

A guy who says his legal and accounting abilities are a perfect match for what's needed in Congress somehow "forgot" to make sure that all of his restaurants were complying with federal tax laws for more than 20 months? Moreover, Tinsley delayed paying the more than $122,00 in fines and penalties for six years by means of extended legal wrangling. Among other things, he filed an appeal against the IRS collection action, and evidently failed to show up for a hearing he scheduled with the IRS to discuss a settlement.

Tinsley's Lame Excuses
It seems that the IRS determined Tinsley did not make any payments for two years after he learned about the tax debts. In 2005, the IRS finally threatened to seize his company's assets to pay off what Tinsley owed. At that point, Tinsley filed an appeal to the IRS determination on the collection action. Get this -- he claimed that an IRS agent had instructed him to stop making payments on what he owed. No way said the IRS.

Tinsley also made lame excuses for his failure to pay the payroll taxes, saying the finances of the restaurant in question were in "chaos" and that its manager was incompetent. For some reason, it took Ed many moons to figure that out. It apparently took him even longer to admit he was wrong and fork over all the money he owed, including the interest and penalities he ran up by dragging his feet and failing to follow proper procedure.

The case documents show the IRS claimed Tinsley knew about the debt back in 2000. Ed, on the other hand, says he had no idea until two years later, in 2002. The self-described master of details had no idea this was going on?

Documents also show that Tinsley finally did pay most of the payroll taxes themselves, but he dragged his feet on the fines and penalties. How dare the IRS punish him like other people for failing to pay his taxes on time? I guess Ed believes that a guy who owns a 15,000 acre ranch in Lincoln County and a home in the exclusive Las Campanas development in Santa Fe deserves special treatment.

Tinsley Thinks He's Special
Just the sort we need more of in Washington. You know the story -- the rules are for other people to follow, not self-important guys like Edward R. Tinsley III. Eddie got caught breaking the rules, but instead of quickly admitting he was accountable for his actions and making things right, he kept on delaying and trying to wriggle out of the consequences.

Tinsley has long fought fiercely against raises in the minimum wage. Evidently, handing over the taxes deducted from his employees' paychecks to the IRS is another distasteful matter to Tinsley. Seems like Tinsley has a habit of advocating against things that benefit ordinary people and seeking to pile up more for himself and his wealthy friends. It's a common trait of many right-wingers like Tinsley. His self-serving ways mirror those of the people most to blame for the global financial crisis we're suffering through right now.

We need to keep Tinsley -- and every other candidate like him -- as far away from the Halls of Congress as possible. He wants to serve the people alright, so long as they're his kind of people -- people with means who shouldn't be expected to follow the same rules that ordinary folks have to follow. He's so special -- you know.

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