BREAKING: New Trump Campaign CEO Failed To Pay His Income Taxes For Several Years

Earlier this week, Donald Trump added a new face to his campaign staff: Steve Bannon, who had been executive chairman of the far right website Breitbart.com, assumed the role of campaign CEO. And it would appear he has at least one thing in common with his new boss: He doesn’t like to pay his taxes.

Public records show that in the 1990s, Bannon failed to pay his taxes. The matter even reached critical mass when five federal tax liens–which totaled $481,951–were attached to a business Bannon was a partner in.

Some background: In 1990, after a brief tenure as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs, Bannon formed a company with some friends which was called Bannon & Company in Beverly Hills, California. The company was basically an investment bank which specialized in media properties. As Bloomberg reports:

“At the time, investors preferred hard assets—manufacturing companies, real estate—and avoided things like movie studios and film libraries, which were harder to price. Bannon’s group, drawing on data such as VHS cassette sales and TV ratings, devised a model to value intellectual property in the same way as tangible assets.”

In addition to the federal tax liens, Bannon also had three state tax liens filed against him which added up to nearly $120,000. All of these liens were released in 2000.

But you have to wonder: Why did Bannon resist paying the taxes he was told he owed for earnings associated with a company which carried his name? Granted, there might have been a dispute over the amount, but when Bannon and the Trump campaign were contacted for comment, they did not return calls from the Huffington Post.

None of this suggests that Bannon was hoping to skirt tax laws, but it does speak to a larger hypocrisy: Right wingers love to cry about how some people pay no taxes at all and merely “freeload” off the government. Apparently if you’re a rich freeloader, that’s perfectly acceptable. No wonder Bannon’s a Republican. He’s also a bum.

Featured Image Via MediaMatters