Jailed ex-MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps, wife must pay $69,489 in state taxes

Jimmie E. Gates
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Imprisoned former Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps and his wife must pay nearly $70,000 in state income taxes after a court ruling..

In an order issued Tuesday, the state Court of Appeals affirmed a Hinds County Chancery Court ruling dismissing Epps' and his wife Catherlean's appeal of a Department of Revenue's order for the couple to pay $69,489 in individual income tax for 2007-2014 tax years.

 Epps was MDOC commissioner from 2002 to 2014. After resigning on Nov. 5, 2014, he was indicted on charges of accepting bribes and kickbacks in exchange for contracts and illicit activity with various corrections facilities.

Chris Epps

Epps was sentenced in May 2017 by U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate to almost 20 years in federal prison and fined $100,000 for running one of the largest and longest criminal conspiracies in the state's history. Epps' wife was never implicated in any wrongdoing.

A 49-count federal indictment accused Epps of taking at least $1.4 million in bribes and kickbacks to steer more than $800 million worth of state prison contracts. He pleaded guilty in February 2015 to bribery and filing a false income tax return.

A Department of Revenue audit determined the Eppses owed the additional taxes and issued an assessment letter dated Oct. 23, 2017. The Eppses appealed to a  Department of Revenue review board and later to Hinds County Chancery Court.

But Hinds County Chancery Judge Tiffany Grove dismissed the Eppses appeal last year, agreeing with the Department of Revenue that the couple had missed the deadline by one day to file an appeal in chancery court.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals agreed with Grove's ruling, saying the Eppses failed to file their appeal within the required 60 days after the Department of Revenue review board decision was handed down.

The Eppses attorney James McGee Jr. argued they had two to three additional days to appeal the Board of Tax Appeal decision since it was mailed to them. But Matthew Henry, an attorney for the state, argued that state statute only applied when filing an appeal to a state agency, not to a court.

But McGee said: "Nowhere in this statute is it explained to the taxpayer how to properly calculate those 60 days."

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at 601-961-7212 or jgates@gannett.com. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.