For DA candidate, one step forward, one step back on tax debt
For Tariq El-Shabazz, a Democratic candidate for district attorney, resolving city tax debts appears to be a case of one step forward, one step back.
A spokesman for the city's Department of Revenue now says El-Shabazz satisfied a $50,947 tax lien judgment in Common Pleas Court for a case that began in 2001.
But still outstanding is a series of previously unreported city tax cases, filed from 2008 to 2015, resulting in nine judgments for a combined $45,861 in unpaid fines and court costs against his law firm, El-Shabazz & Harris LLC.
A 10th tax case was filed against El-Shabazz's firm in Municipal Court last month but has not been adjudicated.
El-Shabazz, who stepped down last week as District Attorney Seth Williams' first deputy and formally entered the May 16 primary election Monday, has been elusive when pressed for answers about his tax debts.
They include a combined $137,187 from six IRS lien judgments in Common Pleas Court from 2013 to 2016 and a state income tax lien of $2,577 filed last June.
El-Shabazz, while addressing supporters and reporters in a news conference Monday, acknowledged the tax debts and said he was working to pay them.
"It is a debt that I owe," El-Shabazz said. "There's no doubt about it. I never ran from it. It is a debt that was based on honesty. No doubt about it. I didn't go around corners, trying to skim anything. But it's a real debt, one that is being handled."
The Department of Revenue says El-Shabazz satisfied the $50,947 in liens in Common Pleas Court, apparently sometime before the city filed a notice with the court in September that the debt was unpaid.
"Mr. El-Shabazz was in a payment agreement for that liability and complied with the terms of the agreement, so that lien should have been satisfied and removed from the court records," the department said in a statement. "Now that the Law Department is aware of that oversight, the lien will be satisfied promptly."
The department, citing "confidential taxpayer information," refused to say when El-Shabazz entered into a payment agreement and when the debt was satisfied.
Aren Platt, a spokesman for El-Shabazz's campaign, on Thursday said more information about the outstanding liens was coming.
"We will be talking more about all the taxes as soon as we have it all together," Platt said.
A Department of Revenue spokesman confirmed that the $45,861 from nine Municipal Court judgments was unrelated to the $50,947 in liens and has not been paid.
Platt described El-Shabazz as a "lead partner and litigator" at the law firm but said he was not in charge of human resources or administration.
"We have our attorneys, accountants, and the administrative staff at the law firm looking into all this," Platt said.
In each of the nine cases, the Law Department filed complaints for unpaid taxes.
Court records show El-Shabazz & Harris was served with notice of the complaints but did not appear for hearings, resulting in default judgments. Each judgment included a $5,000 fine, plus court costs ranging from $82 to $112 per case.
Four of the cases were for unpaid business privilege taxes, four were for unpaid wage taxes, and one was for unpaid business income and receipts tax. The latest, filed Jan. 18, is for unpaid 2010 business income and receipts taxes, according to court records.
El-Shabazz's firm also faces four outstanding Municipal Court judgments for unpaid rent in cases filed by the management firm that operates the Land Title Building on South Broad Street.
The most recent judgment, last May, was for $37,572. Judgments were also entered against the firm for $30,328 in 2015, $27,978 in 2012, and $24,752 in 2009.
The management firm and the lawyer who filed those cases did not respond to requests for comment this week.
Platt said that as with the tax cases, attorneys and accountants are now examining the judgments for unpaid rent.
El-Shabazz on Monday said his debts did not hamper his ability to be an effective first deputy to Williams, a $165,576-per-year post he held for seven months, and would not interfere with his ability to serve as district attorney.
He also rejected comparisons to Williams, who dropped his bid for a third term two weeks ago amid controversy from his long-delayed reporting of more than $175,000 in gifts from 2010 to 2015, which resulted in a $62,000 fine by the Philadelphia Board of Ethics on Jan. 17, and an ongoing federal investigation into his personal and political finances and a nonprofit he founded.
"Please, do not try to put spillage on Tariq Karim El-Shabazz by the failings of Seth Williams," El-Shabazz said Monday. "The tax debt is different from those things that are related to him."
