IRS files lien against Maldonado for $100,000

July 24, 2010

The Internal Revenue Service filed a lien against property owned by Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado and his family earlier this year, claiming the Santa Maria Republican owes the federal government more than $100,000 in taxes. [LA Times]

It is the ninth time since 1992 that federal, state or local tax collectors have resorted to liens against the Maldonado family farm in an effort to compel payments totaling more than $240,000, public records show.

The lien was filed April 13, two weeks before Maldonado, formerly state Senator and Assemblyman for San Luis Obispo County, was sworn into office.

The single-page IRS lien indicates that Maldonado owes the government $111,146 for underpaying a category of taxes that include Social Security, Medicare and federal withholding contributions for employees on his 6,000-acre farm outside Santa Maria.

A spokesman for Maldonado said the outstanding taxes are “absolutely not an employee compensation issue.… It is a dispute over the use of company vehicles.”

The lien claims Maldonado’s business failed to pay $54,048 in 2006 and $57,098 in 2007, while Maldonado was a state senator. The previous liens, filed between 1992 and 2002, range in size from an $81,129 IRS bill in 1995 to a $408 state tax bill in 1998.

Maldonado’s spokesperson responded by saying all the liens have since been released.


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I hope he’ll learn his lesson, and this will be the last time we’ll hear about any liens against him for not paying taxes. We all have to do it…it’s not fun, but it’s unavoidable.


Haven’t you heard the phrase “crime pays”? It’s a truism, and in this case, it’s either negligence or fraud. Fraud in the sense of creative accounting. Given the history of the firm being cited for this activity, there is no reason to suggest he they will ever clean up their act. What Maldonado (or his tax accountant) does likely nets the business much more than the penalties they are forced to pay.


I would like to see the penalties on repeat offenses doubled, tripled, etc.


Hodin – I agree that tax cheats should pay their penalty. I, however, get a chuckle at your one sided attacks. If you are the same Hodin who takes pleasure at sticking a thumb in the eye of local politicians with an (R) after their names, please note that your obvious muse, LA Times’ Paul Conrad, stuck it to anyone and everyone, regardless of ideology. That’s why he was the editorial cartoonist of his generation and in what was once a great newspaper.


Mr. Hodin, your overt partisanship allows you your voice in only a weekly, free, entertainment guide. Your satire is long old before it is voiced. Ouch!


Now if you were able to hide your partisanship, like most major print journalists, maybe, maybe, you would emerge from irrelevancy.


Here is the thing that astounds me and I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on. Hasn’t any of these people on both sides, heard of a BOOKKEEPER!??? I have a small business and use both a bookkeeper and a tax accountant. What are these politicians idiots?? Rhetorical question. I know the answer.


Well SLO county has sullied every branch of government there is. Congrat SLO!

Bakersfield is laughing at you.

At least their hypocrisy ridden lying politicos had the panties to own up to it.


What’s the big deal, a lot of Obamas appointees had trouble remembering to pay their taxes and they still have their jobs… Seems all politicos have a personal view of themselves that they are above the law and the rest of us.

Do as I say, not as I do…


Maldonado just happened to get caught this time.


And the time before that …

and the time before that …

and the time before that …

and the time before that …


I am curious about how just how many Federal appointees have had IRS liens filed against them as opposed to state level politicos like Maldonado’s measley 100 grand.


Say …. Give the guy a break !


If candidate for Sheriff Parkinson doesn’t pay his taxes why in the heck shouldn’t Abel follow suit.


Both of these clowns set a great example for the rest of us hard working taxpayers … don’t they?


yet an other joe ” i’m a college boy , i’m a college boy ” cortez supporter blaming Parkinson , a local candidate , for something a state candidate did . i see your still working in the basement , go a head .. hit the dislike ck all you want , you know what i’m talking about .


Its about hypocrisy Mr. Crow ….. It doesn’t matter who the candidate is, whether Federal, State or Local. If they don’t pay their taxes it speaks to their character and fiscal responsibility.


Although I sometimes grumble, I pay my taxes Mr Crow, and I’ll add that I make a hell of a lot less than Mr Maldonado or Mr. Parkinson.


What about you Mr. Crow … are you an American taxpayer? If so how can you justify the obvious.


NO WAY … i have a tax shelter in the cayman islands …… lol . of course i pay taxes , i own properties and have full and part time employees , but i only pay them three dollars an hr. under the table because their illegals ( i learned that trick from wal-mart ) … just jokin’ i pay plenty in taxes .


OH YEAH …. I’M AN AMERICAN TOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!


Crow, your comment is stupid and illiterate. You lower the bar here. Try to make sense, stick to the subject, use decent grammar and typing. Maybe someone will listen to you then.

If you like Ian no matter what, or Abel no matter what then you are a drone. The reason so many on this site support Cortez is Parkinson is not very smart (he has made sooooo many mistakes) and Joe has no skeletons in the closet that we have seen.

This article and the ones about Parkinson are about candidates SO LAME that they let their tax issues go to liens.

One thing the article did not point out is that Abel has often hinted at his humble background, working in the fields as a poor mexican etc. Hah, his family owned the fields, that I suppose he has now inherited. Nice life for a poor mexican guy. I’m just a simple white guy, no inheritance. No free ride for me.


DO !! .


I guess my comments might have struck some as the ‘bitter’ white guy left in the dust. But that is not the case, for the record. I’m not keen on ”privilege’ holding sway over our political and economic system. Those who inherit over those who don’t. The power continues on in certain families and many more deserving have to split up what little is left. My socialist agenda would reduce any inheritance to a low figure with the rest going into the general fund or other depository. We should all make our way as best we can, its downright unfair for some to inherit millions and others to get nothing.

The only reason I mentioned ‘mexican’ is that Abel said or hinted he was a farm worker who worked his way out of the fields to political stardom, and he is obviously of hispanic origin. If he is, in fact, from a wealthy family and inherited a valuable

business that his ancestors started and made successful then his humble beginnings and so on are cast into doubt.


Sorry, our limits for freedom of speech only go so far, Please do not derail this thread any further, read the guidelines, fight club is elsewhere.

Please comment on topic; as if you are in someones living room with a bunch of friendly smart people. Focus your remarks on the topic/story NOT other people posting here.

some opinion content removed rather than deleted for readability.

????????????? email


There are many many well to do Mexican’s and always have been, they are called Padrones, they are owners of large agricultural enterprises and large scale employers. Many expanded into the US and other counties. If you check Forbes top billionaires list, you will find that Mexico has it’s share. Difference between Mexico and the US is that Mexico has a larger disparity between the have’s and the have nothing. The US isn’t far behind, give us another 20 years.


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Wow. Nice job of “supporting” the government by what appears to be another Republican who would rather not pay taxes. And he appears to be an “equal opportunity offender” by having liens during the Clinton years, the Bush II years, and now during President Obama’s first term. Well done, Lt. Governor; I’m sure you will get your back slapped and many high fives by most of your fellow Republicans in Sacramento. Sleaze.