Pro golfer Jim Thorpe is facing a new challenge these days: allegations that he did not pay $1.6 million in federal taxes. Thorpe is accused of failing to file and pay taxes on income he earned in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Altogether, Thorpe faces four counts of failure to file an income tax return and three counts of failure to pay income taxes; the fourth filing charge involves a company belonging to Thorpe. If convicted on all charges, the 60 year old Thorpe would likely retire in prison: he faces a sentence of up to seven years and a $3.2 million fine.
Thorpe was born in my old home state of North Carolina. In the mid 1980s, he won 3 times on the PGA Tour (twice in 1985). To date, he has 18 professional wins, including 13 wins on the Champions Tour. This puts him on the top ten career money list for the Champions Tour, a fact that no doubt caught the attention of the IRS.
According to the PGA, Thorpe has lifetime winnings of more than $13 million. The IRS alleges that Thorpe failed to pay tax on approximately $5.2 million of those winnings.
Thorpe claims that he didn’t willfully intend to violate the law, though I’m not really sure how that’s going to play out. Unless he’s waiting on a kidney, his excuses are probably fairly limited. Thorpe’s attorney has advised that he will, of course, plead not guilty.
Image: Wikimedia, Creative Commons courtesy of Ted Van Pelt
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