Hart Files for Bankruptcy-Again

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho lawmaker and tax protester Rep. Phil Hart has filed for bankruptcy — again — prompting a federal tax foreclosure case against him to be put on hold. Hart filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Idaho's U.S. District Court on Wednesday, almost two months after his previous bankruptcy case was voluntarily dismissed. Hart, a Republican from Athol who lost his bid for a fifth term in the Idaho House earlier this year, stopped filing federal income tax returns in 1996 while he unsuccessfully pursued a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal income tax. He lost that lawsuit, and the Internal Revenue Service is seeking to collect more than half a million dollars in back taxes, penalties and interest, partly by foreclosing on his log home in Athol.