DETROIT, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Tax issues are dogging several of the 15 contenders to replace the jailed Kwame Kilpatrick as mayor of Detroit, records show.
Two mayoral candidates have liens filed against them for unpaid income taxes, one lives with his mother who is behind on her property taxes and two more were delinquent on tax bills until they settled in the past few weeks, The Detroit News reported Tuesday.
In the latter group was former Detroit Pistons basketball star Dave Bing, who after moving to a Detroit condominium from suburban Oakland County, Mich., paid $9,995 to settle property taxes on his home in Franklin, Mich. Campaign spokesman Cliff Russell told the News the bill was a "mishap" that was immediately corrected.
Also recently paying bak-taxes was Wayne County Sheriff and mayoral hopeful Warren Evans, who paid $11,656 in delinquent summer taxes on a horse farm he owns in rural Washtenaw County, Mich. The newspaper said property tax records show Evans bought the 20-acre farm in 2001 for $590,000.
"It was an oversight," said Bob Berg, a spokesman for Evans' campaign.
A primary is set for Feb. 24 to replace Kilpatrick, who resigned and is serving a jail sentence after pleading guilty this year to corruption charges.
