Latoya done got her taxes paid!

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New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell no longer owes back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, according to a federal tax database, potentially putting to rest any revival of the tax controversy that dogged her 2018 election campaign and re-appeared during her first term.

During an interview Wednesday with members of the editorial board of the Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, Cantrell said she successfully appealed an IRS finding that she and her family owed roughly $95,000 in taxes over six years ending in 2018.

A search of federal tax information Wednesday indicated that more than $122,000 in liens had been released against Cantrell and her husband, attorney Jason Cantrell. The IRS also released another $24,010 in liens against Jason Cantrell alone.

In winning the appeal, her family saved about $60,000, she said.

"We are in a great position as it relates to the Internal Revenue Service," the mayor said. "I moved forward with (an appeal), and it worked out in our favor... I do not owe any back taxes now."

Unpaid taxes were a sore point for Cantrell during her first bid for mayor. After The Lens reported on about $30,000 of the debt the summer before the mayor's race, Cantrell said she and her husband planned to pay at least $24,000 of that debt after refinancing their home,
But their bank, First NBC, never made the payment. After it collapsed in 2017, its successor, Whitney Bank, released the money to the Cantrells, who then paid off $30,000 in September of that year, a month before the October mayoral primary.

The issue didn't stop voters from electing her by a 60-40 margin over then-opponent Desiree Charbonnet.

After her election, a report by WVUE television last year revealed an even higher unpaid tax bill, roughly $95,000 from 2013 to 2018. Cantrell then said that her family has tried to get out from under the tax debts for years, and that fellow New Orleanians have also struggled with similar issues.

According to state disclosure forms, Cantrell earned $175,970 in 2020 and her husband earned between $25,000 and $100,000 from his Poydras Street law practice.

The IRS liens on the Cantrells' Louisiana Avenue Parkway home were largely released in November of last year, except for one that was released in 2018.

Cantrell faces 13 opponents in her bid for re-election, though none are particularly well-known or financed.

Thus far in the race, the mayor has touted steps she took to slow the spread of coronavirus during the pandemic, and has stressed the need in the coming years for higher-paying jobs for city workers and improved public health outcomes.

The primary is Oct. 9; a runoff, if needed, will be Nov. 13.

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