Phil Hart never hid his aversion to the federal income tax when he campaigned for the Idaho Legislature last year from northern Kootenai County.

But he didn’t do anything to bring it to voters’ attention either.

Now, after Hart has served a quiet first session, his constituents have learned that he owes nearly $90,000 in back income taxes, penalties and interest as a result of a seven-year quixotic joust against the income tax with the Internal Revenue Service. And Erica Curless of The Spokesman-Review has reported that the trust for the Athol home in which Hart lives owes $7,236 in property taxes for 2003 and 2004.

The debts are troubling because they indicate that Hart may live by a different set of rules than his constituents. Wage earners in this country are expected to pay part of their incomes to support the basic functions of government, from military protection to road building, from homeland security to unemployment and disability benefits. In Idaho, many share Hart’s concern for increasing property tax, but they pay their share to support local governments and schools. An office holder who shirks his duty to pay his share of taxes sets a bad example, no matter how worthy he believes his cause to be.

Wisely, Hart has reached an agreement with the IRS to pay back income taxes after his failed crusade against the 16th Amendment, which gives the federal government the authority to tax income. In other words, the structural engineer accepted his medicine for withholding payments and is moving on. As a freshman legislator, he hasn’t embarrassed his district by using his Statehouse bully pulpit to lobby against or condemn the federal tax.

However, the revelations about his debt indicate there’s much more to Hart than he revealed during his under-the-radar campaigns for the Legislature in 2002 and 2004 – first as a Constitutionalist and then as a Republican. He underscored how passionate he is about his cause and the Constitution by making three trips to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., to conduct research and then self-publishing a book about his findings.

Constituents should press their representatives about his political philosophy. What other opinions does he have that are out of the mainstream?

Also, residents of northern Kootenai County should demand that Hart explain his relationship to the trust which holds his home in his daughter’s name. Does the arrangement have anything to do with his battle with the IRS, which has slapped a lien on the house? Property taxes are a hot-button issue in North Idaho resort communities. Hart should explain who’s responsible for the taxes on his home and why they’re delinquent.

Some may admire Hart for taking what they may view as a principled stand against the federal government. But others see as foolishness his willingness to squander money and risk penalties and interest to reiterate failed arguments about the 16th Amendment. That calls his judgment into question. So does the statement he made to The Spokesman-Review that he still believes he’s right about the income tax.