Candidate’s Financial Troubles Uncovered: Cornel West of the Green Party Owes $500,000+ in Taxes and Child Support
According to tax records, the philosopher and Green Party presidential candidate Cornel West owes more than half a million dollars in unpaid taxes and child support.
From 2013 until 2017, West owes nearly $466,000 in federal income taxes, according to public records. This occurred after he racked up (and subsequently paid off) debts totalling close to $725,000 between 1998 and 2005 and more than $34,000 in 2008, according to tax records in Mercer County, New Jersey, where he owns a residence.
The tax debts have not been paid off as of 30 days ago – the last available data, according to Mercer County records. ABC News reached out to West and his campaign to inquire if he intended to repay the debt or establish a payment plan, but they have not responded to our requests for comment.
Mercer County records show that the tax debts have yet to be paid off as of 30 days ago, the most recent information available. ABC News reached out to West and his campaign to inquire if he had plans to repay the debt or establish a payment plan, but they have yet to respond.
Aytul Gurtas, his ex-partner and the mother of one of his children, is owed the outstanding child support payment. While it is unclear how long West failed to pay child support, New Jersey family lawyer Kathleen Stockton stated that the sum appears to be substantial.
According to census data, the average U.S. child support obligation is about $5,800 per year, making West’s nearly $50,000 more than eight times that.
Stockton noted that West could have paid Gurtas and not reported it to the court, although West has not indicated this.
West told the radio host “Charlamagne the God” that his debts were being used as a “distraction” from his presidential campaign, which has been focused on ending poverty, mass incarceration, and environmental degradation.
“Any time you shine a flashlight under somebody’s clothes, you’re gonna find all kind of mess because that’s what it is to be human,” West said.
Earlier on the show, West mentioned he was “broke as the Ten Commandments financially, personally, collectively.”
Since West’s debts are personal and unrelated to the campaign, they may not directly affect his candidacy’s finances.
A Closer Look at Financial Disclosure
According to West’s financial disclosure filed with the Federal Election Commission in August 2023, he currently makes at least $200,000 annually.
This includes his professorship at Union Theological Seminary, where he earns up to $100,000 per year; his speaking engagements, which earn at least another $100,000; and his retirement fund, which makes him between $5,000 and $15,000 annually. His wife, a professor, earns at least $50,000 per year.
According to Kedric Payne, an ethics lawyer with the Campaign Legal Center, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics advises candidates to disclose debts the size of West’s in an email to ABC News.
“The federal disclosure law requires candidates for president to report liabilities owed over $10,000. Child support is excluded, but OGE advises that overdue taxes are reportable. If West, in fact, owes taxes, voters have a right to know why this isn’t disclosed,” Payne wrote.
Author Christopher Phillips, West’s associate, described West as “authentic” and someone who has not shied away from spending his own money to help others.
Phillips, who has known West for eight years, said that when they first spoke on the phone, the scholar offered to lecture and spend time with his students at the University of Pennsylvania, where Phillips was a writing fellow.
“He said he could come down on his own nickel, and he spent the entire day breaking philosophical bread with my students just because he likes what I do,” Phillips said.
The campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment from ABC News.
Source: abc NEWS
