Did Hunter Biden Also Fail to Pay California Taxes?

Last week a public Whistleblower Complaint was successfully filed with the California State Auditor to investigate the Franchise Tax Board and whether Hunter Biden filed tax returns and paid taxes due California on time in the same period of 2014-2019 for which he pled guilty to Federal tax evasion.

The State Auditor has assigned the Complaint as Case Number 12024-14638. The Complaint was filed by James V. Lacy, President of the United States Justice Foundation.

According to the indictment, Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme in which he chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019 and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns.

As alleged in the indictment, to further this scheme, Hunter Biden:

• subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company by withdrawing millions outside of the payroll and tax withholding process;
• spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills;
• in 2018, stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015;
• willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes;
• willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns, on time; and
• when he did finally file his 2018 returns, included false business deductions in order to reduce the very substantial tax liability he faced as of February 2020.

The Complaint alleges that Biden very likely would also have had state tax liability as a resident of California during the period covered by his Federal guilty plea, and there have been no public disclosures of whether or not Biden filed or paid his state taxes, and if not, whether any enforcement action was taken by California.

While Hunter Biden has received a Presidential pardon for any crimes dating back to 2014, that pardon has no effect on state laws, such as compliance with California’s own tax laws.

“Californians who file their tax returns and timely pay their taxes deserve to know whether or not Hunter Biden has received any special treatment from the Franchise Tax Board regarding his tax liability,” said Lacy. “I am hoping my Whistleblower Complaint will draw attention to this issue and bring some transparency to whether our state tax system has acted fairly.”

Lacy further noted that both Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Adam Schiff have sharply criticized the President for pardoning Hunter Biden, and said “Newsom should also reveal to California taxpayers whether or not Hunter Biden was secretly ‘pardoned’ from state tax liability and enforcement as well.”