Conrad Black assessed $5.1m back tax bill

A Canadian court has ruled that publisher and author Conrad Black owes the government $5.1 million in back taxes. Black's lawyers had attempted to argue that Black was a resident of Britain, having renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001, CTV reported Tuesday. The Tax Court of Canada ruled otherwise. "As a resident of Canada, he is subject to tax on his worldwide income, including employment in a third state," the court's Chief Justice Gerald Rip said in his ruling. There were contradictions in Black's argument, CTV reported. Black had paid income taxes on $802,226 of income he had earned in Canada during the time in question, although he failed to pay on outside income. He also declared he was a resident of Britain from 1992 through 2002, but while he was a resident there, he was living outside of the United Kingdom, CTV said. The Canadian Revenue Agency's bill includes $2.9 million in taxes for income earned abroad and $1.4 million in income represented by his use of the Hollinger International Inc. airplane. CTV said Black moved to Toronto in 2012 after serving 37 months in prison in the United States for fraud and obstruction of justice. Black, formerly the chairman of Massey Ferguson, was the controlling founder of Hollinger Inc., a holding company for Black's media interests, which included the Daily Telegraph and the Chicago Sun-Times. Hollinger was declared bankrupt after Black's fraud convictions in 2007.