Eric Holder, Tax Deadbeat

The next time the IRS audits you, you can invoke the Eric Holder defense: Simply say you "weren't aware" you failed to pay your taxes. See how far that gets you.

US Attorney General Eric Holder and his brother failed to pay the property taxes on their childhood home in Queens, which they inherited last August after their mother died, The Post has learned.

And because their ailing mom, Miriam, was already behind on two quarterly tax bills when she succumbed to illness on Aug. 13, the charges went unpaid for more than a year -- growing to $4,146.

It wasn't until The Post confronted Holder last week about the delinquency that he and younger brother William Holder finally paid up Friday, including $73.14 in interest.

The siblings "weren't aware of the initial missed payments, which happened in the last months of their mother's life when she was battling illness," said a Holder spokesman.

The subsequent unpaid bills "occurred during a time period in which the disposition of the estate is still being resolved," said Department of Justice spokesman Matthew Miller.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. But when you're Eric Holder, you're clearly above the law. I wonder how long he would have avoided paying taxes if the Post hadn't pointed it out to him?

Speaking of tax deadbeat pals of Obama's, his good buddy Al Sharpton still owes millions, with no sign he's ever going to pay up.

The Rev. Al Sharpton's nonprofit has vowed to clean up its tax debt, but it's unclear whether the charity's funds will be used to pay the activist's private liabilities.

The National Action Network's board of directors recently voted to approve funds "to resolve tax liens and outstanding tax issues," according to a NAN statement.

The organization had owed more than $1.1 million in payroll taxes at the end of 2009, according to the group's audited financial statements. But it's not clear how much of that debt has been paid.

Sharpton, NAN's president, owes $2.6 million in federal liens and $1.3 million in state personal and corporate liens for Rev Al Communications.

But Obama insists "the rich" need to pay more. Except where his friends are concerned.

Although Obama is an Ivy-educated citizen of the world, and president of the most powerful nation on earth, one has to wonder: Is Warren Buffett the only successful American the President knows?

"I don't need another tax cut, Warren Buffett doesn't need another tax cut," the President proudly professed to the American people.

But let's examine why that statement is so unnerving to investors hoping to see their lawmakers engage in an honest budget debate. For starters, Warren Buffett undoubtedly files one of the most unique tax returns in America, replete with tens of millions in capital gains and virtually no earned income. Judging from his tax returns in recent years, Buffett "earns" about $500,000 in salary and fees as a corporate director, but cashes out tens of millions more in capital gains and dividends stemming from his $45 billion dollar stake in Berkshire Hathaway.

As such, he pays about 17 percent of his "income" in taxes. To be sure, this rate is low, especially compared with the millions of Americans who are paying twice as much (35 percent) with virtually no deductions.

The bulk of these so-called "rich" Americans earn less than $500,000 a year before taxes, and hardly qualify as "rich" in Buffett terms, merely quite comfortable. These Americans proudly paid their taxes this week, a task that, in states like New York, means nearly 50 percent of their earned income goes to the government.

So it only adds insult to injury that President Obama, rather than praising these hard-working tax-payers, demonizes them by lumping them in with the Buffett types -- billionaires who clip (bond) coupons and rake in the capital gains at a much lower 15 percent rate.

Of course these folks could always voluntarily pay more, yet never seem to.

Eric Schoenberg says to sign him up for paying higher taxes. Schoenberg, who inherited money and has a healthy portfolio from his days as an investment banker, has joined a group of other wealthy Americans called United for a Fair Economy. Their goal: Raise taxes on rich people like themselves.

Shoenberg, who now teaches a business class at Columbia University, said his income is usually "north of half a million a year." But 2009 was a bad year for investments, so his income dropped to a little over $200,000. His federal income tax bill was a little more than $2,000.

"I simply point out to people, `Do you think this is reasonable, that somebody in my circumstances should only be paying 1 percent of their income in tax?'" Schoenberg said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said he has a solution for rich people who want to pay more in taxes: Write a check to the IRS. There's nothing stopping you.

"There's still time before the filing deadline for them to give Uncle Sam some more money," Hatch said.

Don't expect them to. These hypocrites are busy finding more tax shelters. Besides, they need to save some dough so they can "invest" in Obama's re-election.