The Pelican Institute for Public Policy began investigating ACORN in July of this year. Our investigative reporter, Steve Beatty, quickly discovered that ACORN and its related groups owe more than $1 million in state and federal taxes.
According to Orleans Parish court filings, ACORN had failed to pay federal payroll taxes on time, even as it was accepting grants from the federal government. The ACORN family was responsible for at least 75 tax-related filings since Jan. 1, 2008. Most of these were liens.
Then, on September 3, the IRS filed a $548,000 lien for two years worth of unpaid payroll taxes. This was on top of the existing IRS bill of more than $1 million.
To add to the organization’s troubles, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell confirmed that his office was conducting “a full scale investigation of ACORN and all of its subsidiaries.”
On September 23, the Pelican Institute reported that the City of New Orleans had two contracts with Acorn Housing Corp. for $625,000. Acorn Housing was to be paid $250,000 for providing home repairs under one contract, and $375,000 to develop homes in areas hit by Hurricane Katrina under the other.
Although the city claims to be monitoring these contracts, it has not explained what monitoring procedures are in place. The city has also failed to provide any information clarifying how Acorn Housing was selected to do this work.
And neither the city nor Acorn Housing has confirmed that any work has actually been done.
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