IRS problems for Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie-Singh Allen persist; Taxpayers facing 'Grave Danger?'
No one likes to pay their taxes, whether it is your federal income taxes or that extra one percent levied on Elk Grove consumers by Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen's voter-approved Measure E. But most people pay their income taxes annually with little fuss.
While it is almost impossible to escape paying Singh-Allen's pay-as-you-buy Measure E, there is a little more flexibility when paying income taxes. This is something Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and her husband, John M. Allen, know firsthand.
According to documents filed by the United States Internal Revenue Service, the mayor and her husband had a Form 668 (Y)(c) prepared against them on September 10, 2024, and recorded at the Sacramento County Recorder office on October 10. (See the first image below).
According to the IRS's Taxpayer Advocate Service (your voice at the IRS!), the form 668 (Y)(c), the "The IRS files the Notice of Federal Tax Lien (NFTL) with local or state authorities to alert creditors you owe the government unpaid taxes. The notice can be filed in multiple locations and states. When the NFTL is filed you will receive a letter with a copy of the NFTL showing the location(s) and state(s) where it was filed."
On that same page, the IRS poses the question for people seeking further information, How did I get here?
The answer provided says:
"You have a balance on your tax account which you have not paid.
When you don’t pay your taxes, the IRS can file a public document, the NFTL, with the local and/or state authorities. When the NFTL is filed, it alerts creditors you owe the government.
The NFTL secures the priority of the government’s claim to your current and future property and assets until the balance is paid in full.
While NFTLs no longer appear on credit reports, they may still affect your ability to get credit if a potential creditor uses other resources, such as public records, to discover the NFTL."
As the lien notice shows, for each tax year between 2019 and 2022, the mayor and her partner, Mr. Allen, had $78,966 in unpaid taxes.
This lien notice could be related to a case filed by Mayor Singh-Allen and her husband in the United States Tax Court, Case No. 29337-21S. A PDF document from that case can be viewed below.
That document from the tax court dated June 29,2023 and signed by Singh-Allen and her husband says "That there is a deficiency in income tax due from the petitioners for the taxable year 2020 in the amount of $32,986; and, that there is a penalty due from the petitioners for the taxable year 2020 under the provisions of I.R.C. 6662.a in the amount of $6,547.20."
This isn't the first time Ms. Singh-Allen and her spouse had troubles with the IRS. During her first campaign for mayor against incumbent Steve Ly, problems dating back several years surfaced.
The mayor provided a widely shared explanation of those problems in September 2020. That explanation can be viewed here.
Following the tax lien recording, the IRS filed another document with Sacramento County on October 17, 2024. That document (seen below) is form 10916.
According to the IRS, this form if recorded when either "the full amount, including penalties and interest, is paid, IRS accepts a bond guaranteeing payment of the amount owed, IRS determines the liability is not owed, or the liability has been reduced to zero, or the IRS is no longer legally able to collect the tax."
The form does not disclose in what manner the lien was resolved. We will monitor filings to see if IRS problems persist for the mayor.
People facing IRS problems are not uncommon. However, when an elected official has a federal lien filed against them, it is not a positive indication of their stewardship of taxpayers' interests.
Thanks to Mayor Singh-Allen, Elk Grove taxpayers have committed substantial resources to constructing a $300 million zoo for the Sacramento Zoological Society. If the Mayor oversees the city's zoo financing in the same manner she conducts her personal practices, taxpayers could face, as Tom Cruise's character, Lt. Daniel Kaffee, said in A Few Good Men, grave danger.
As Jack Nicholson's Col. Nathan Jessup responded, for Elk Grove taxpayers, is there any other kind?
