John Wiley Price Finances Picked Apart by IRS Agents in Attempt to Prove Tax Fraud

As prosecutors told jurors, there would be no suitcases stuffed with cash in this Dallas public corruption case but a steady stream of payments over time using bank accounts and check payments.They weren't huge sums, but John Wiley Price earned enough to roughly double his county commissioner salary every year for a decade, according to prosecutors.On Monday, an IRS revenue agent picked apart Price's finances to help make the government's case that he failed report more than $1 million in income from 2001 to 2011 that prosecutors say was mostly comprised of bribes.Even illegally-earned money must be reported in tax returns, said the agent, Rene Hammett. She agreed, for example, that bank robbers would be required to report their stolen loot on their taxes.Among the 11 counts Price is being tried on are one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS and three counts of filing a false income tax return.Price is accused of not reporting almost $1 million in bribes on his taxes in the form of cash, vehicles and land from co-defendant Kathy Nealy, a lobbyist and close associate of his who will be tried later. Prosecutors said Price also failed to report about $127,000 from chief of staff Dapheny Fain's mail order business and about $83,000 from a gallery he used to sell African art pieces.Price's defense attorneys have said Price helped Nealy and Fain financially over the years and that they repaid him for loans and expenses he incurred on their behalf.  Continue reading...