Federal prosecutors are asking a bankruptcy judge to reject an Idaho lawmaker's bankruptcy proposal to pay just a small fraction of the half-million he owes in back taxes because they say it is not feasible, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Idaho Rep. Phil Hart (R) has offered to pay $12,000 over five years to settle more than $600,000 in debts. U.S. Department of Justice attorney Adam Strait filed court documents opposing Hart's plan, saying that it does not include enough money to pay back the IRS. Strait also contends that the plan is based on Hart's legislative salary, which will disappear at the end of this year because Hart lost in the GOP primary. Hart contends that both state and federal income taxes are unconstitutional, and he stopped filing both types of tax returns in 1996 when he sued in hopes of getting the federal income tax declared unconstitutional. After he lost the lawsuit he began filing tax returns again, but authorities say he never fully paid up.
