Well no one saw this coming. South Georgia Motorsports Park, the circle track and drag racing facility that has served as a hub of small tire activity over the last several years has been seized by Georgia state authorities after it was disclosed that the operators of the track had failed to pay some $90,000 in taxes. The Georgia Department of Revenue showed up to the track with a pair of felony arrest search warrants yesterday and did just that. Kim Wood, the co-owner and operator of the track turned herself into police. The accusations are theft by taking sales tax on one warrant and another for theft by taking withholding. Neither of those things sound like they’re words a person would want to hear coming from a Department of Revenue official’s mouth.
Apparently the state department of revenue had been conducting a two year investigation of the track and it all came to a head in August when the state pulled the sales license of the facility and Wood kept on operating it like nothing had happened. Interestingly, it is being reported that an operator will be appointed by a judge and the place will continue to operate. We’re keeping our ears open to see how and when this will happen. The news reports we are seeing said that there will be no interruption in the operation of the facility, which seems stunning. We’re watching. Wood’s husband is the other co-owner of the track but he has not been charged by police.
As this story develops we’ll keep you filled in.
Isn’t the Yellow Bullet Nationals being held there within days of today?
Just an FYI, $90 K may sound like a bunch of money, but its not. I’ve owed the IRS more than that for a few months’ of employee taxes. That they’d sieze the track for such a pitance makes me wonder if the IRS isn’t after something greater. Like an excuse to own the property.
I owned the IRS more then that, not enough assets to seize, they took 1/2 and set up a payment plan, this does seem odd because as an asset it is way more valuable, something else has to be going on here
It’s not the IRS, It’s the state sales tax guys. They can be more aggressive than the IRS. Fought with them in California, and survived but it was tough. Hope these folks do the same
State sales tax is different, whether-or-not you actually “collected” it, it’s owed on sales and failure to pay it along is regarded as theft. Nasty stuff. The reason the facility would be -allowed- to stay open, is the state also wants that money machine to keep cranking for them, whether it’s working properly at the moment or not.
It’s politics. There are folks that would like to see GSMSP shut down and have friends in the state revenue office. Other than that they’d work out a payment program for them. They’ve done it for me a couple of times.
It was a judge that ordered the track to stay open. the revenue office could care less if it’s open or not. They most likely plan to sell the land to the highest bidder. In Georgia that means the cronies that want the track closed.