RETIRED Superior Court Judge David Wiseman expressed dismay over Guam-based Kandit News’ “poor reporting” of the recent tax lien notice issued by the CNMI Division of Revenue and Taxation regarding his alleged unpaid taxes.
“On this 1st day of December, I woke up to a message from a friend about an article in the [Kandit] news and on social media with my judge photo and a story about me not having paid a tax allegedly due from 2015-2016 in the sum of $24,551.45,” Wiseman told Variety in an email.
“Amazing how an accomplished good reputation of four decades in the CNMI that I am proud of can be stained by an article that did not ask or contact the other party for comments prior to publishing the story,” he added.
Richard Santos, CNMI Tax and Revenue collection manager, filed a tax lien notice against Wiseman in the amount of $24,551.45 in the District Court for the NMI on Nov. 29, 2023.
According to Wiseman, he had communicated with Santos on several occasions “when I was making payments through him pursuant to an installment agreement I had with Rev & Tax.”
“Notwithstanding such communication years ago, I was never contacted nor notified about the alleged tax due, nor did I receive any notice of the filing of said tax lien,” Wiseman said.
“A letter I sent to Mr. Santos, dated Aug. 25, 2018, captioned ‘Installment Agreement Payment In Full,’ referenced my last payment of $3,647.07 on July 11, 2018. The letter also stated that, in my opinion, this sum was the balance remaining on the installment agreement for payment of taxes due 2015-2016, and that it has been paid in full,” he added.
Wiseman said he did not receive any response to his statement in the letter he sent.
“The letter also concluded by thanking several employees at Rev & Tax, along with Mr. Santos, for their courteous and helpful assistance and cooperation in handling, what was for us, a very substantial tax payment. The installment agreement was for a very large tax sum of $152,440. This substantial tax was due because of [our] preparing to move off island and selling off some CNMI assets for which we had to pay taxes on,” the retired judge said.
Wiseman said upon signing the installment agreement, he paid $52,440 and then made several partial payments thereafter. “Until finally paying off what I assumed, in good faith, was the balance,” he added.
“So here I am, years later, viewing a very disturbing and unwarranted stain on my reputation from a…news story and on social media, on a matter I assumed was completed and satisfied years ago,” Wiseman said.
He said, “The detrimental effect of the filing and subsequent news story, could all have been avoided with a simple phone call, message, or other communication to me, which would have brought about a discussion with Rev & Tax with respect to this matter.”
Variety tried but was unable to get a comment from Kandit News.
