‘Tax Liens’ Are Troubling For Husband, Wife On GOP Ballots

Public records found in the Crawford County Courthouse show a litany of tax liens against both Warren T. Robertson and his wife Christine (Christie) Emerson Robertson, both of Alma and both first-time candidates.

The husband and wife are each running for separate seats in the May 24 Republican Primary — and both races have other GOP candidates on the same primary ballot.

There are no announced Libertarian or Democratic candidates for the state House District 24 and state Senate District 29 seats.

Seeking reelection to the state House is state Rep. Charlene Fite of Van Buren, who has an expanded House district, taking in additional territory in Crawford County, while still holding onto the largely rural area in southwest Washington County. Candidate Christie Robertson is the GOP challenger to Fite.

Jim Petty, of Van Buren, is a Van Buren City Council member, area resident for 25 years and is running for the state Senate District 29 seat, the same spot as Warren T. Robertson.

But both the Robertsons have tax liens filed against them, the latest one filed Feb. 9, 2022, by the Internal Revenue Service showing a total of $13,320.59 on a lien by the Internal Revenue Service to the Crawford County Clerk’s office. A former lien, filed by the IRS on Oct. 22, 2015, shows the couple having a lien in the amount of $ 362,203.13. A further search of the tax record in Crawford County shows late payments on basic property taxes to Crawford County in a number of years.

Can you run for public office and have tax liens against you?

Here is proof positive you can have one’s federal taxes in a mess and still go out and ask voters to elect you to public office.

Should you run for public office when your personal affairs, such as local, state and federal taxes, are in arrears or owing?

That is a question of ethics.

Calls were made to both candidates on published numbers found on their websites. No calls left for the Robertsons were returned to this writer for this column.

Warren Robertson, on his Facebook pages, says he is a Christian husband and father, conservative, business owner and gun owner.

On the same campaign sign featured on his Facebook page, he has a quote: “Let’s Make Campaign Promises Great Again!”

How about this simple quote?

“I pay my taxes.”

The Robertsons have a campaign headquarters at 521 Main St., Van Buren.

Both political seats have better salaries than in the past; the House minimum pay is $ 42,428 as a base salary, add to that $151 per day of attending committee meetings and each day of the legislative session, plus 50 cents per mile from home to Little Rock for any legislative business.

The seat in the state Senate has a base of $42,428 as a base salary, adding to that $151 per day for attending committee meetings and each day of the legislative session, plus 50 cents per mile from home to Little Rock and back or for any legislative business.

Not bad for a part-time job — however legislative pay is taxable on both state and federal tax forms.

That doesn’t seem to be a problem for most of the 135 members of the House and Senate who draw legislative pay.

But for some folks out there running for office, looks like paying their personal taxes, be it to the county tax assessor/ collector, state of Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration or the Internal Revenue Service, has been difficult.

Do we really want such people down in Little Rock trying to spend our hardearned tax money?

Think about it.