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NEW YORK (CNN) — Civil rights leader and MSNBC host Al Sharpton and his for-profit business owe more than $4.5 million in current state and federal taxes, according to a New York Times report out Tuesday.
His tax liabilities come despite making a hefty salary, and he and his nonprofit advocacy organization, National Action Network, have been missing payments to hotels, landlords and travel agencies, the report says.
Sharpton has been a regular face in New York and Washington political circles. The report points out that President Barack Obama has raised money for Sharpton's group, and that Sharpton attended the recent announcement that Loretta Lynch would be the White House's pick to be the next Attorney General.
Sharpton's former aide Rachel Noerdlinger is also adviser to the wife of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray.
Every time there's a Sean Bell or a Ferguson or a Trayvon Martin, we go through my taxes. It's the same agreement y'all. It's the same thing we announced in '09. It is the same thing we've been paying every month.
–Al Sharpton in a Wednesday press conference
Sharpton has said he's paying back the money, thanks in part to help from more donations to his organization. He said he also lent money to the group, and didn't take a salary at times.
"You can say I'm not a great administrator," he told the paper. "You can't say that I'm not committed."
The MSNBC host said in a press conference Wednesday that the $4.5 million was the original figure he was ordered to pay back in 2008, but that he has been making regular payments since then and the amount is now less.
Sharpton did not give the outstanding balance owed by him and his for-profit companies — Raw Talent and Revals Communications.
His press conference came as his group prepares for the grand jury decision regarding police officer Darren Wilson to be announced in Ferguson, Missouri as soon as this week. Politics, he argued, was at the heart of negative stories about him in the press.
"Every time there's a Sean Bell or a Ferguson or a Trayvon Martin, we go through my taxes. It's the same agreement y'all. It's the same thing we announced in '09. It is the same thing we've been paying every month," he said.
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