Latest OpEd On Town GOP Versus Democrat Carfora On His Tax Debt

Submitted by the East Haven Republican Town Committee:

On Wednesday, East Haven Republican Town Chairman Bob Parente called on mayoral candidate Joe Carfora to release a number of documents, including any settlement agreements with the Internal Revenue Service and the Town of North Haven following Carfora’s claims on Monday that his debts have “all been squared away.”

Parente explained, “On Monday, Joe Carfora told the New Haven Register that '80 percent' of those issues 'are history' and that he is “meeting [his] obligations.’ Mr. Carfora owes the Town of North Haven over $40,000.00 dollars alone, the debt dates back to 2013, and it is entirely due and outstanding. I don’t consider that ‘squared away.'"

Parente added, “I’m pretty confident that if we called the Town of North Haven, they would hardly consider the issue ‘squared away,’ either.”

Tax records released by an anonymous whistleblower last week indicate that while Carfora made payments in April toward his 2013 debt to the Town of North Haven, he has not made payments on his company’s delinquent 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, or 2018 real estate tax debts. Official records, recorded on the East Haven Land Records, also indicate Carfora has outstanding tax obligations to the IRS totaling almost a quarter of a million dollars.

In the two days after local media began reporting on Carfora’s outstanding delinquent tax obligations, Carfora’s campaign has been mired in controversy relating to the outstanding obligations. The allegations, and subsequent fallout, led Parente on Wednesday to demand follow-up from Carfora.

Parente added, “Mr. Carfora claims he has met his obligations. He needs to come clean. He should immediately disclose any settlements he has made with the IRS and the Town of North Haven, along with all of his tax returns since 2011."

"The people of East Haven deserve to know if the debt truly is squared away and, if it was cleared up, how it was cleared up. Is Mr. Carfora on a payment plan with the IRS or the Town of North Haven? Can we expect, if he is elected, for his Town paycheck to be garnished? The people deserve to know what they're in for if they choose to vote for Mr. Carfora," Parente added.

After news broke about Mr. Carfora’s financial woes, he quickly moved to relate them to family struggles. East Haven RTC Bob Parente expressed empathy with those struggles, but demanded accountability from candidate Carfora on Wednesday.

Parente explained, "I understand that people fall on hard times, especially when family needs arise. I, like Mr. Carfora, know what it's like to care for a sick loved one and to be cared for and I understand the financial strains that sometimes follow. It’s one thing to fall on hard times. However, it’s an entirely different thing to spend fifteen years dodging personal and business tax obligations."

Parente concluded, “Mr. Carfora is now the center of a tax controversy. He can try to gloss over it all he wants, but he owes it to the people of East Haven to come clean. If he has nothing to hide, he should release every shred of paper that justifies his situation including and any proof that he has paid off his massive debts to the IRS and Town of North Haven along with proof of the current balances of those debts. If he doesn’t release that information, residents should be very wary of his claims he has ‘squared’ any of it away.”