Charlotte Observer----
County probes whether taxes go uncollected
(Politicians hearing complaints that some property owners haven't paid their taxes for a decade or longer.)
In response to sharp criticism from Charlotte Politicians, Mecklenburg County is looking into complaints that officials have failed to collect taxes from some property owners for years.
The county tax collector's office is compiling a report to show whether problems are widespread or limited to a relatively few cases. Officials will report the findings to the county Board of Commissioners.
The action comes after commissioner Bill James and other elected officials chastised the county for allowing some people to avoid paying taxes for a decade or longer.
Charlotte City Council members John Lassiter and Susan Burgess earlier this year complained that failure to collect taxes cost the city badly needed revenue. The county collects taxes for Charlotte and other municipalities in Mecklenburg.
Stable revenue stream
Property taxes are one of the largest sources of money for local government and are widely seen as the county's most stable revenue stream.
But officials reported in April that the county is owed $26.7 million in delinquent taxes for 2008. An advertisement the county ran in the Observer listed more than 28,800 overdue tax bills for land, buildings and business equipment.
James said he requested the report about tax delinquent properties after receiving a complaint from a citizen about an uptown condo. Records show the condo owner has not paid taxes on the property in 12 years, James said.
“People are gaming the system,” he said. “If we allow that to happen, it will undermine public confidence.”
Mecklenburg Tax Collector Neal Dixon acknowledged there are properties where bills have remained unpaid for years, but said his office has taken aggressive steps to collect the money. Collectors send notices, knock on doors or threaten to garnish wages, bank accounts and income tax refunds in those cases, Dixon said.
In many cases, he said, delinquent tax bills stem from bankruptcies, disputes over ownership and legal wrangling that make it difficult for the county to recover past-due taxes.
“It's more complex than it looks on the surface,” Dixon said.
County collects 99%
A report city officials produced earlier this year showed Mecklenburg tax collection rates were comparable to or better than those of counties of similar size.
Over the last 10 years, the county has collected 99 percent of the tax dollars owed, Dixon said.
But anecdotes about unpaid taxes have prompted some officials to call for action.
At a City Council meeting in May, Lassiter said officials had received information about several properties where taxes have not been paid in 10 to 12 years. “This is a good time to tighten down the screws on those folks who owe the government money,” he said.
Burgess said she received a complaint letter from a constituent about a rental property where the landlord avoided paying taxes for years. The county tax office confirmed information contained in the letter, she said.
“That's outrageous,” she said. “It's not fair to our citizens – the 97 percent who paid taxes – for 3 percent just to walk away from us. I think we ought to get aggressive about it.”
Charlotte Pastor indicted on Tax Evasion charges
The leader of two Charlotte-area churches was accused Tuesday of evading several hundred thousand dollars in taxes while spending lavishly on travel and luxury cars – including a $175,000 Bentley GT he leased from 2005 to 2008.
A federal grand jury in Charlotte indicted Bishop Anthony L. Jinwright on 14 counts – including filing false tax returns, tax evasion, mail fraud and making false statements to federal agents.
Jinwright, 52, heads Greater Salem City of God in west Charlotte and Greater Salem at the Lake in Cornelius. Together they draw about 2,000 people, said an official at the Charlotte church.
Jinwright, who also owns funeral homes in Charlotte and Pineville, has written a book about partnering with the Holy Spirit called “Rise Up: Breaking Free into Anointed Living.” His church Web site advertises a radio show called “The Wright Word,” which airs Sundays at 6:30 a.m.
The indictment says Jinwright and his wife's expenses were too great for the income listed on their joint tax returns from 2001-2006.
“Defendant accumulated a number of luxury assets and enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle which far exceeded his reported taxable income for those years,” the court document said.
On Tuesday, Jinwright's Lexus SUV – with a vanity plate reading “JIN'S SUV” – was parked in a reserved spot at the Greater Salem City of God off Brookshire Freeway.
Bishop Alan Porter, who said he was the church's executive pastor, told an Observer reporter at the church that Jinwright was unavailable for an interview about the charges.
“We have no comment at this time,” he said, adding: “Trust in God.”
Indictment numbers
The 16-page indictment says Jinwright failed to report $875,000 in taxable income for him and his wife, Harriet Porter-Jinwright. She is listed on the church Web site as a co-pastor, but is not charged.
The indictment alleges Jinwright owes from $200,000 to $400,000 in unpaid federal and state income taxes.
The indictment also details salary and reimbursements of $3.1 million for Jinwright from the church from 2001-2006. It also lists more than $400,000 in income from speaking engagements and book sales.
Jinwright's personal expenditures include $198,000 in total car lease payments from 2001 to the present, according to the indictment. The vehicles listed: a BMW 530i, a Mercedes-Benz S550V, five Lexus vehicles and a Maybach 57 – billed as a luxury sedan with a 550-horsepower engine and worth about a quarter of a million dollars.
Led church since 1981
Jinwright has led what is now Greater Salem City of God since 1981. He incorporated A.L. Jinwright Ministries in 2001.
Every year, church members celebrate his latest anniversary as pastor with a service that has drawn other prominent black pastors as guest speakers.
A Wilmington native, Jinwright also leads Pastors International Consortium, which is scheduled to have its 2009 conference next week at Nations Ford Community Church.
In 1998, he was elected first vice president of the General Baptist State Convention, which represents about 2,000 black Baptist churches in the state. Since then, his church has removed Baptist from its title.
Founded in 1874 as Salem Baptist Church, Greater Salem City of God has been at its current spot in west Charlotte since 1913.
For almost a decade, the church has talked about moving to a site on Rozzelles Ferry Road. It did purchase 54 acres and broke ground in June 2007 on what was touted as the future home of a new church facility, as well as senior citizen housing, a drug rehabilitation center and assorted businesses.
But two years later, the site is only dirt and grass and a sign announcing the project.
Charlotte woman indicted on Tax Fraud charges
A Charlotte woman was indicted by a federal grand jury today on multiple charges of tax fraud.
Brenda Denise Small, 39, was indicted on two dozen counts of allegedly filing false claims for tax refunds, one count of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service and four counts of aggravated identity theft during an attempt to commit bank fraud, acting U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan said this afternoon.
The indictment alleged that Small worked for Resource Financial Services in Charlotte beginning in 2004 and prepared and filed 50 to 100 false federal and state tax returns, generating fraudulent refunds.
In 2005, Small prepared tax returns for clients of Swift Tax Service in Charlotte, the indictment said. She is accused of preparing 129 false federal and state tax returns that generated more than $400,000 in fraudulent federal refunds.
She allegedly did the same for Charlotte Liberty Tax service in 2006, filing at least 47 false federal and state tax returns that generated nearly $130,000 in fraudulent refunds.
The indictment also alleges that Small used the names of at least 10 former customers without their knowledge to file income tax returns. Refunds were sent to Small's address.
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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Google Maps
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