Al Sharpton on $4.5M tax debt report: ‘I ain’t going nowhere’

The Rev. Al Sharpton came out swinging against a critical New York Times story that found he owed about $4.5 million in taxes, saying the report was politically motivated and that no matter what, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“A lot of people don’t like the fact that President Obama’s the president,” Mr. Sharpton said at a press conference in Harlem, Politico reported. “A lot of people do not like the fact that Bill de Blasio won for mayor. And they certainly don’t like that I’m still here, and I ain’t going nowhere.”

Mr. Sharpton also said that the $4.5 million the New York Times painted him as owing was “misleading and out of context,” and that while he wasn’t sure how much money he personally owed, his National Action Network was only in arrears on $800,000, Politico said.

“We’re negotiating that we want to try and get a lower figures on penalties to just pay it all off,” he said, Politico reported. “And clearly, I’ve said National Action Network is in a position to pay, to write a check tonight, if they weren’t trying to get a 100 percent, a dollar for a dollar, and I’m in a position, if we can get some of the penalties down.”

Mr. Sharpton also took issue with The New York Times journalist who penned the critical report — Russ Buetner, who was present at the press conference — and said they “both agreed” he never borrowed money from his nonprofit in order to pay for his daughter’s school tuition, Politico reported.

Mr. Sharpton also took issue with a reporter who tried to query more about the National Action Network’s debts and said that he had used his personal funds to give loans to the nonprofit — in amounts that were higher than his salary, Mediaite reported.

In the testy exchange, Mr. Sharpton referred to records on those loans and said, to the reporter: “Did you see that? Hello? Did you see that?”The reporter didn’t answer and Mr. Sharpton said: “She can’t even bring herself to admit she’s sorry,” Mediaite reported.