Feds ask court to toss out Rep. Hart’s legislative immunity claim in federal tax case

The U.S. Justice Department wants a federal judge to toss out Idaho Rep. Phil Hart’s arguments that his status as a state legislator should bar IRS claims against him for back taxes. Federal authorities are seeking to foreclose on Hart’s Athol, Idaho log home for $550,000 in back federal income taxes, penalties and interest. In fighting the move, Hart claimed that because a notice of deficiency was sent to him while the Legislature was in session, the whole case should be tossed out.

His Kentucky lawyer, Charles McFarland, argued in court documents that Hart’s immune from being served any such notices during a legislative session, to “prevent interference with the state legislative process.” Wrote McFarland, “This has been a fundamental principle since the foundation of country and even the law of nations.”

He cited a 1788 court case from the Court of Common Pleas of Pennsylvania to back up his argument, but Justice Department lawyer Adam Strait noted that decision predated the U.S. Constitution, and was expressly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1934 decision. “Federal law, not state law, determines the scope of legislative immunity from a federal-law cause of action,” Strait wrote in court documents. “And there is no set of facts under which Hart is entitled to assert legislative immunity for failing to pay his federal income taxes.” You can read my full story here at spokesman.com .