Back Taxes

A Harford County accountant received a 15-month federal prison sentence yesterday for failing to pay $134,600 in back taxes, the latest tax evader to be prosecuted in a recent surge of tax cases in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.Kenneth L. Chrest, 41, of Street pleaded guilty to tax evasion for the years 1989, 1990, and 1991, having earned income between $119,000 and $148,000 in each of those years. But in federal tax returns, he claimed that in two years he didn't make any money and made only $30,793 in the third year, court papers said.

A Millersville boat dealer and his wife were placed on probation for two years yesterday and ordered to pay more than $16,000 in back taxes after they pleaded guilty to failing to pay excise taxes on boats they sold.Arthur Lilly, 46, and Renee Lilly, 33, pleaded guilty to willful failure to remit excise taxes on boats sold at their marina in Edgewater from 1988 to April 1991.Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Warren B. Duckett Jr. ordered the couple to pay $16,618 and suspended a five-year jail sentence after Assistant Attorney General Karen J. Kruger, the prosecutor, said she would not recommend jail time as part of an Oct. 23 plea agreement.

WICHITA, Kan. -- The forgiving folks at the Internal Revenue Service are making a gentle bid to bring wayward taxpayers back into the fold.The IRS has launched a nationwide program to persuade people who have not filed returns over the past few years to rejoin the taxpaying public voluntarily."

A Davidsonville woman who had received one of the toughest sentences ever given for failing to file state income tax returns had her sentence reduced yesterday because she had paid her back taxes.Carol-Ann R. Baker, 52, had been sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined $6,000 in October for failing to file state income tax returns from 1986 to 1988. Her husband, David Bruce Baker, received 12 years and a $12,000 fine for failing to file returns from 1985 to 1988.In imposing those sentences, Circuit Judge Eugene M. Lerner told the couple he would "substantially reduce" the punishment if they filed their returns and paid their back taxes.

An expected spike in tax amnesty collections in the weeks before the Oct. 31 deadline did not materialize, and the state has received only $12.96 million in penalty-free back taxes so far - well below the $70 million figure that legislative analysts had predicted. The results are the latest budgetary woe for Maryland after legislative policy analysts cautioned this week that the state could face a $1.7 billion shortfall by the end of next year. The state comptroller's office won't have final collection figures for several more days, but state officials said that the events of Sept.

The owners of 78 properties, including the developer of the Durham Manor residential project north of Bel Air, have paid back delinquent taxes after their holdings were sold at auction three weeks ago.Durham Manor's developer, Continental Land Co. of Parkville, paid bidders $28,707 in back taxes to recover 45 properties that had been soldat the county's annual tax sale, according to county statistics.A record 268 properties were sold at the June 17 auction. The sale included 88 lots at three new residential developments, statistics show.

In a decision with important implications for professional athletes in Maryland, a hearing officer this week cleared Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson and former outfielder Mike Devereaux of claims they owed back taxes and said neither man should have been taxed as a resident.The decision may clear up an ambiguity in Maryland's taxation of athletes, where the state had argued that many players should be taxed as residents if they keep a home here year-round.Anderson claims residency in Nevada, where he owns a house, not Maryland, where he has an apartment with rented furniture.

Comptroller William Donald Schaefer has a message for Maryland's largest tax delinquents: Pay now or be listed as a deadbeat on a state World Wide Web site. "It does get results," Schaefer said at a news conference yesterday as he unveiled the Internet list of the state's 50 top tax debtors. But the No. 1 debtor on the list has a message for the comptroller. "You've got to have it in order to pay it." Francis X. Gaegler, who is listed as owing $829,487 in back taxes, said his debt is the result of a land deal that went sour in 1994, plus years of accumulated interest and penalties.

Q: My husband and I are divorcing after 24 years of marriage. Our home is up for sale, and when it is sold, we will be dividing the proceeds.The balance owing on our land contract added to back taxes for the past two years comes to approximately $8,000. When these expenses are paid, I hope to be receiving approximately $50,000 as my share of the proceeds.I have talked to my bank trust officer, and he indicated that at the time I receive the proceeds, he will be willing to advise me on investments.

Helping a constituent is a long-standing tradition in American politics.Legislators have transformed this service into a high art, hiring staff whose only job is to navigate folks through government bureaucracies.In the most benign form of service, lawmakers can pressure recalcitrant bureaucrats to fill potholes or fix broken sidewalks, pick up trash that has been rotting along a roadside or repair a school bathroom.In its more insidious form, constituent service can mean government officials giving special treatment to a crony, a large campaign contributor or a powerful business.