RALEIGH, N.C. — A national report is revealing detailed information about what led to North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson failing to file federal taxes for five years straight more than two decades ago.
The Republican nominee for governor is not disputing the dire economic situation he was in prior to filing for bankruptcy. A campaign spokesperson told WCNC Charlotte, Robinson has made no secret of his past "financial challenges."
An ABC News report found, in the years leading up to Robinson and his wife filing for bankruptcy in 2003, he failed to file income taxes from 1998 to 2002. Robinson ultimately filed his back taxes in May 2003, after the Internal Revenue Service took up the matter in bankruptcy court, ABC reported.
ABC News also reported, citing bankruptcy filings, Robinson had hardly any money to his name and significant debt at the time.
The reporting builds on stories WRAL, the NBC affiliate in Raleigh, published in 2022. WRAL outlined the income tax filing failures, but also a failure to pay delinquent vehicle county taxes in North Carolina for five different years between 2006 to 2018. After the revelation, Robinson corrected the problem and paid the delinquent county taxes, WRAL reported.
In response to the most recent reporting, Robinson's campaign called it "old news" and an effort to "distract" voters.
"Lt. Governor Robinson has made no secret about the financial challenges in his past," campaign spokesperson Mike Lonergan said in a statement, in part. "As a former factory worker who lost his job due to NAFTA and had his home foreclosed and was even forced into bankruptcy, the Lt. Governor has overcome many challenges – financial and others – in his past. He's lived the struggles that families across North Carolina are facing every day."
Lt. Gov. Robinson will face Democrat nominee Josh Stein, the current North Carolina attorney general, in the November gubernatorial election.