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Otto attacked for tax lien discrepancy

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Democratic Congressional candidate Bill Otto is facing attacks over $100,000 worth of outstanding federal and state tax liens owed on a limited liability corporation he cosigned onto with his son.

Rep. Bill Otto, D-Maryland Heights, failed to disclose $107,191.10 in federal and state tax liens on his campaign finance disclosure form he submitted as a candidate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Failure to disclose those liens as a liability can come with up to a five-year prison sentence and a $50,000 fine.

Otto
Otto

However, Otto contends that he has paid off those liens. The St. Louis County and St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds office showed that he has paid off some of those liens, but other thus far have not been released. A lien release essentially means the debt has been paid off.

Otto and his son, Casey, filed Articles of Organization with the Missouri Secretary of State’s office in Dec. 2009 for a business called Plan Nine, a recreational skate park. Casey owns and operates the business and Otto cosigned the initial loans.

In April 2014, the Missouri Department of Revenue sent him a tax lien of for $45,879 filed under “Plan Nine, LLC.” The Missouri Department of Revenue’s lien search function still displays the case when searching “Plan Nine” as the debtor name in St. Charles County. Otto then received two liens from the Internal Revenue Service in June 2015, one for $58,581 and another for $2,730. An official from the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds office said that their system showed neither the $45,879 nor the $2,730 lien had yet been released.

An official from the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds office said that their system showed neither the $45,879 nor the $2,730 lien had yet been released.In August of that year, the IRS sent another tax lien to Otto for $67,467, which was released in Nov. 2015. A representative of the St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds office confirmed that lien was released and also confirmed the release of the $58,581 lien. However, the representative said that lien was released less than two weeks ago on Oct. 24, 2016.

In August of that year, the IRS sent another tax lien to Otto for $67,467, which was released in Nov. 2015. A representative of the St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds office confirmed that lien was released and also confirmed the release of the $58,581 lien. However, that lien was released less than two weeks ago on Oct. 24, 2016.

On his personal financial disclosure forms with the U.S. House of Representatives from January and May of this year, he did not list them as liabilities. His only listed liabilities are two mortgages from Fifth Third Bank. Otto claimed that he and his son had paid off those debts and had no outstanding liens in a quick phone call just before he had a prior campaign event.

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Otto claimed that he and his son had paid off those debts and had no outstanding liens in a quick phone call just before he had a prior campaign event.

Wagner’s campaign said that his unwillingness to disclose those liens on his financial disclosure form was designed to mislead voters.

“It’s troubling that Rep. Otto has a record of supporting big government tax increases, while simultaneously accruing over $150,000 in tax liens,” Wagner campaign spokesman Brecht Mulvihill said. “But what’s even more troubling is that he has willingly misled the very people that he is currently seeking to represent. If Rep. Otto is lying to us as a candidate, surely we can’t expect him to tell us the truth as a Member of Congress.

“It is essential that we can trust our elected officials and it seems clear that Rep. Otto has betrayed this trust. However, our campaign will remain focused on the issues that affect Missouri voters like working to protect our economic and national security.”