MCLC: Ai to contest tax bill

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Ai to contest tax bill
***********************************************************

Source: NYT 
(11/11/11):http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/12/world/asia/dissident-chinese-a
rtist-ai-weiwei-will-contest-large-tax-bill.html

With Help, Chinese Artist Will Contest a Tax Bill
By SHARON LaFRANIERE

BEIJING ‹ Ai Weiwei, the artist and political dissident, has decided to
contest an unpaid tax assessment of about $2.4 million that is due on
Tuesday, and he will use donations from thousands of Chinese supporters
for the appeal, Mr. Ai¹s wife said Friday.

Mr. Ai¹s wife, Lu Qing, said he would post a guarantee of half the tax
bill to be allowed to contest the order to pay it. ³We demand the case be
reopened because all procedures were wrong and most were illegal,² Ms. Lu
said in a telephone interview, referring to the lengthy investigation of
her husband.

One of China¹s most famous artists, Mr. Ai was detained in April and held
for 81 days at a secret location. There, he said, questioners interrogated
him about his activism, not about his finances. The government later
announced that he was guilty of tax evasion and gave him until Nov. 15 to
pay the back taxes it said he owed, plus large penalties.

Mr. Ai¹s 80-year-old mother, Gao Ying, the widow of one China¹s best-loved
poets, said last week that she would mortgage her home to help her son
meet the government¹s demands. ³If he can¹t pay it, then he¹ll be taken
in,² she told Human Rights in China, according to an e-mail from that
organization, which has offices in New York and Hong Kong. She said she
had removed a photograph of President Hu Jintao from her home in protest.
³I have these words for the authorities: creepy, crooked, evil,² she said.
In the two weeks since the government delivered the tax bill, tens of
thousands of people have contributed more than $1 million to help Mr. Ai
pay it. His wife said the couple considered the donations to be loans and
would repay them.

Asked what would happen if the appeal failed, Ms. Lu said: ³We will think
about that then. Step by step.²

Mia Li contributed research.