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By Del Quentin Wilber and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 26, 2009; 6:17 PM

D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) owes the federal government more than $277,000 in back taxes and skipped at least six months of recent payments on taxes owed to the D.C. government, according to federal authorities.

The disclosure came in court papers filed by federal prosecutors who are asking a judge to revoke Barry's probation for tax offenses because he did not file his federal or D.C. returns for 2007 in a timely manner. U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson has scheduled a hearing for April 2.

Barry, 72, who recently had a kidney transplant, is on three years' probation for failing to file tax returns from 1999 through 2004 and for not paying the bulk of taxes owed on more than $500,000 he earned during that period.

Barry condemned prosecutors and the IRS for releasing his private tax information, saying it violated the law.

"The approach that they are using goes against prosecutorial conduct," he said in a statement.

"The U.S. attorney is, in legal terms, piling on," he added. "The attorney knows that the hearing is scheduled for April 2, 2009. Whatever additional information he has since the last filing can be presented in court at that time."

In court papers, federal prosecutors have urged Robinson to revoke Barry's probation because he has not filed his taxes on time in eight of the past nine years. They say Robinson should send Barry to jail, put him in a halfway house or extend his probation another two years.

Barry has argued that serious illnesses distracted him from filing his taxes on time for 2007. He filed them Feb. 17, a week after federal prosecutors moved to have his probation revoked.

Federal authorities have not previously disclosed how much Barry owes the U.S. Treasury. But in the court papers filed today, they disclosed that Barry still owes $277,688.05 in back taxes, according to an affidavit filed today by Don Sender, an IRS special agent.

The IRS is garnishing $1,350 every two weeks from Barry's paycheck, Sender wrote. The council member makes about $92,530 a year in salary.

Seder added that Barry's 2007 return says the council member owes the federal government $6,512 in taxes for that year.

Federal prosecutors noted that Barry also owes back taxes to the District, but they did not disclose that figure.

Barry, a former mayor, has not made a payment on those back taxes since July, they wrote.
The council member's attorney, Frederick D. Cooke Jr., declined to comment.

TOP 5 WASHPO READER COMMENTS:

barrysmith1 wrote:
loser.

you-dont wrote:
If there were ever an argument for the District not being able to govern itself, Marion Barry has consistently done nothing but justify this position. I know we all love democracy, but does the District really deserve to govern itself, vote for president, and have a say in Congress when it has time after time shown it cannot elect decent public officials?

Bitter_Bill wrote:
"Barry has argued that serious illnesses distracted him from filing his taxes on time for 2007."Oh, what the heck. Good enough for me.

Offsets wrote:
Nothing that Barry does shocks me (anymore), but, when will someone grow a spine and put this guy away?

Godfather_of_Goals wrote:
Damn, and that Cabinet appointment was this close.