Wakulla county restauranteur charged with not paying sales tax

The owner of a Wakulla County restaurant has been arrested for collecting sales tax but not forwarding it on to the state.

42 year old Jason Walker who owned Hook Wreck Henry in Panacea is charged with stealing more than $38,000 in sales tax he collected from customers between 2007 and 2010.

If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines, as well as possible repayment of stolen tax, interest, penalty and investigative costs.

According to Revenue Department investigators, Mr. Walker collected tax from customers at his business.

However he failed to send into the state all of the sales taxes that he had collected.

Under state law, sales tax is the property of the state at the moment of collection.

 Lisa Vickers, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Revenue said "Individuals who collect tax but don't send it in are stealing taxpayer dollars and gaining an unfair financial advantage over honest businesses."



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