It is Reported that Philosopher and Presidential Candidate Dr. Cornel West, Who Has Earned Millions of Dollars Down Through the Years, is BROKE According to Forbes Magazine and Other Publications From Court Documents Owing the IRS Half a Million Dollars in Taxes and Child Support. Divorce filings reveal allegations of a “secret life” and help explain why the presidential candidate, who has earned millions of dollars, has hardly anything left.
Philosopher and presidential Green Party candidate Cornel West currently owes more than half a million dollars between unpaid taxes and unpaid child support, according to tax records.
Records show West owes nearly $466,000 in federal income taxes from 2013 until 2017. This came after he accrued (and later repaid) a debt of nearly $725,000 from 1998-2005, and more than $34,000 in 2008, according to tax records in Mercer County, New Jersey – where he owns a home.
Additionally, West has an outstanding $49,500 child support judgement from 2003, records show.
The debts were first reported by the Daily Beast.
The tax debts have not been paid off as of 30 days ago – the last available data, according to Mercer County records. ABC News reached out to West and his campaign to see if West had plans to pay off the debt or set up a payment plan; they have not returned those requests for comment.
The outstanding child support payment is owed to Aytul Gurtas, his former partner and mother of one of his children. ABC News was unable to reach Gurtas for comment.
While it’s not clear how long West didn’t pay child support, New Jersey family lawyer Kathleen Stockton said that the amount of money appears substantial. The average U.S. child support obligation is about $5,800 per year, according to census data, making West’s nearly $50,000 more than eight times that.
Stockton noted that it is possible West paid Gurtas and didn’t register it with the court – though West has given no indication of that.
When the question of his debts was brought up on The Breakfast Club radio morning show last week, West told the radio show host “Charlamagne the God” that they were being used as a “distraction” from his presidential campaign, which has focused on ending poverty, mass incarceration and environmental degradation.
“Any time you shine a flashlight under somebody’s clothes, you’re gonna find all kind of mess, because that’s what it is to be human,” West said.
