Al Sharpton’s Tax Case Heats Up

According to NY Post.com, thing are getting interesting in Rev. Al Sharpton’s tax case. The IRS began sending out numerous subpoenas to Sharpton’s top donors. Below is a snippet of the article.

“Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Budweiser and Michelob, confirmed yesterday that it received a federal subpoena in connection to its charitable giving to Sharpton's National Action Network. ‘We have received a subpoena and are cooperating with the IRS,’ the company said in a statement.

Sharpton blasted the subpoena as a ‘fishing expedition’ and said his donors are proud of their financial support. The St. Louis-based corporation donated between $100,000 and $499,000 to NAN in 2007 alone, according to its Web site, but declined further comment about its relationship with Sharpton. A knowledgeable source said several other corporate donors received or would soon receive subpoenas.

Sharpton himself, his business entities and his nonprofit civil-advocacy group owe millions in back taxes, documents show. The IRS and the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn have an ongoing probe into Sharpton's finances going back to his 2004 run for president and stewardship of NAN.

Last year, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo began a probe of NAN because it failed to follow state financial-disclosure regulations for nonprofits. Cuomo's office has since turned over its NAN file to the US Attorney's Office. As of 2006, the most recent year that financial documents for the group are publicly available, it owed $1.9 million in payroll taxes and penalties.”