Official: Should've penalized Hutchinson

Too late, assessor's official says

Asa Hutchinson 140061
Asa Hutchinson 140061

The chief assessment administrator in the Pulaski County assessor's office said Monday that he should have levied a $1,050 penalty against Republican gubernatorial nominee Asa Hutchinson in 2012 for improperly claiming two homestead property tax credits; state law allows people to receive the credit on only one home.

But Joe D. Thompson, who works for Democratic Assessor Janet Ward, said that he believes it's too late for him to levy a penalty against Hutchinson now because the three-year statute of limitations has expired.

Arkansas Code Annotated 26-26-1119 says that the appropriate county official "shall extend a penalty of one hundred percent of the amount of the unlawfully claimed homestead property tax credit."

Arkansas Code Annotated 26-26-1119, also says "no penalties ... shall be imposed against a property owner for an unlawfully claimed property tax credit after the expiration of three years from the date of the property tax credit was claimed."

Thompson said Friday that he decided not to penalize Hutchinson because he believed the violation had been unintentional.

Hutchinson simultaneously claimed the homestead property tax credit for four years on separate homes in both Pulaski and Benton counties.

Thompson said Monday that he initially thought that Hutchinson claimed a homestead credit in Pulaski County and then purchased a house in Benton County.

Thompson said he learned from Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the house Hutchinson purchased in Rogers in 2010 was a replacement for a home that Hutchinson had bought in 2006 in Bella Vista, so the Pulaski County claim filed in 2007 was unlawful.

But Hutchinson's problems continued because he also got an improper homestead exemption on the Rogers home in 2010.

Benton County Assessor Bear Chaney, a Republican, said Monday that he didn't know that Hutchinson had taken multiple homestead tax credits in both Benton and Pulaski counties until Sunday's article appeared.

Thompson said he should've checked with Benton County about the problem.

"I made a mistake for not calling up there. I will take that one," Thompson said.

On Oct. 11, 2012, Hutchinson repaid Pulaski County $1,050 for three years of improperly claiming homestead credits there, according to Pulaski County treasurer's records.

Hutchinson said he discovered he was improperly receiving a homestead credit in Pulaski County -- perhaps while refinancing his west Little Rock condominium. So he went to the county assessor's office and "had this corrected," he said.

Hutchinson said he told county officials that he "needed to pay whatever I owed for the improper tax credit."

But Thompson said he told him the statute of limitations had run out on Hutchinson's first violation in tax year 2008, so he wouldn't have to repay the money he had unlawfully received.

Hutchinson initially said Friday that he "never claimed" the credit. After being faxed a copy of a Pulaski County homestead credit application dated March 2, 2007, and signed by him, he said he was surprised to learn that he applied for the credit.

Hutchinson said Monday night that he's paid what the Pulaski County assessor's office has said he owed.

"If the assessor determines I now owe more than I was told almost two years ago, then I have no problem with paying any corrected amount," he said in a written statement.

Thompson defended the assessor's office's practice of not penalizing people for claiming two homestead credits in most cases, saying former county attorney Karla Burnett, who now works for the assessor's office, agrees.

"If [Hutchinson] was getting the homestead credit when he applied for the homestead credit here, then that is claiming it unlawfully and that is exactly the situation where we would impose [the penalty]," he said. "If it was simply a matter of he claimed it here and then later claimed it somewhere else, which is what I thought had happened, then to me that does not say he claimed it illegally here."

"I think we are interpreting in the case of the homestead in a way that is beneficial to taxpayers who may not understand everything that the law requires of them," Thompson said.

"This needs a legislative solution," Thompson said. "In my opinion, the very best legislative opinion ... is to make it a credit on your income tax. You only file one income tax credit return [a year]. You can only get one homestead [credit]."

A spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mike Ross said Sunday's "troubling revelation by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Congressman Hutchinson cheated on his taxes and then evaded penalties for doing so is just more disturbing proof that Congressman Hutchinson is out of touch with working families in Arkansas.

"He opposes a ballot initiative to raise Arkansas's minimum wage. He refuses to protect the state's bipartisan private option. He won't cut income taxes for the 40 percent of working Arkansans who make less than $20,400 a year, saying their taxes are already 'very low.' And, he supports privatizing Social Security," said Ross spokesman Brad Howard.

"Congressman Hutchinson is too disconnected to fight for working families in Arkansas who are expected to pay their taxes properly and pay fines when they don't. It's become clear that the only person Congressman Hutchinson is looking out for is himself," Howard said Sunday in a written statement. Howard declined to comment further on the matter Monday.

Hutchinson replied that, "For Mike Ross to call me a 'tax cheat' is a reflection on his own desperation to win without regard for the truth or any sense of fairness.

"So now we have Mike Ross attacking a tax payer who caught his own error; and then reported the error to the government; and paid what he was told to pay," Hutchinson said in a written statement.

"The taxpayer acted honestly and Mike Ross attacks the taxpayer. This is not someone who Arkansans want to run the IRS or the Department of Finance in Little Rock. Will he go after people who catch an error and file amended returns and pay what is owed? Will he call them 'tax cheats' and try to fine them?"

Hutchinson, who has homes in Little Rock and Rogers, is a former 3rd District congressman, federal homeland security undersecretary, director of the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. attorney for the western district of Arkansas.

Ross, who has a home in Little Rock after previously residing in Prescott, is a former 4th District congressman, state senator and Nevada County Quorum Court member.

Along with Libertarian Party nominee Frank Gilbert of Tull and Green Party nominee Joshua Drake, Hutchinson and Ross are vying to succeed Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe in the Nov. 4 general election.

Beebe, who defeated Hutchinson in 2006 for governor, is barred from seeking re-election by the state's term limits law.

Metro on 07/29/2014

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