Politics

Judge rules lobbyist can't shed tax debt

By LUCY MORGAN
Published July 3, 2007

Lobbyist Arthur I. "Buddy" Jacobs cannot use bankruptcy proceedings to get rid of a federal tax debt totaling more than $1.3-million, according to a decision issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

A bankruptcy judge in Jacksonville initially said Jacobs, longtime lobbyist for Florida's prosecuting attorneys, could discharge the tax debt along with other debts when he declared bankruptcy in 2003.

Federal prosecutors appealed, saying Jacobs lived a lavish lifestyle, titled a house at the posh Amelia Island Plantation near Fernandina Beach in his wife's name and deliberately avoided paying his taxes.

The bankruptcy judge's decision was overturned last year, and Jacobs appealed that decision.

The Atlanta appeals court, in a decision written by U.S. 9th Circuit Judge Arthur L. Alarcon, said Jacobs "willfully attempted to evade or defeat his taxes" and cannot avoid paying income taxes for the years 1990 through 1995, 1997 and 1998.

[Last modified July 3, 2007, 06:55:04]