NEWS RELEASE SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE Public Affairs Office Contact: Danny Brazell Phone: (803) 898-5464 Email: brazeld@sctax.org __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ April 15, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Columbia man arrested on tax evasion charges A Columbia man is being held in a Richland County jail after South Carolina Department of Revenue investigators charged him this morning with property tax evasion. Carl Melvin Dillard, 71, was charged with five counts of property tax evasion from 1998 – 2003. He is being held in the Alvin F. Glenn Detention Center pending a bond hearing. Dillard is accused of willfully providing fraudulent information to Richland County tax officials to illegally obtain a homestead exemption from property taxes. The exemption, which excludes $50,000 of the fair market value of a home from property taxes, is provided to South Carolina residents 65 years old or older, or to residents who are totally disabled or blind. Dillard allegedly applied for the homestead exemption on his Richland County home using an expired South Carolina driver’s license after he obtained an Alabama driver’s license, registered his vehicles there and filed Alabama state income tax returns. As an Alabama resident, Dillard would not have been eligible for the homestead exemption on his South Carolina property. Dillard is facing up to five years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 on each charge if convicted. ### |
