For Pete Rose, Tax Hits Keep On Coming

AUGUST 18--The Internal Revenue Service yesterday hit Pete Rose with a nearly $1 million federal tax lien, contending that the wannabe baseball Hall of Famer owes the money for tax years dating back to 1997, The Smoking Gun has learned. The IRS lien, a copy of which you'll find below, was filed in Florida's Broward County courthouse and listed Rose's address as the Plantation office of a sports memorabilia firm affiliated with the disgraced Hit King. Rose owes Uncle Sam a total of $973,693.28 for the years 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 (the lien notes that the IRS has "made a demand for payment of this liability, but it remains unpaid"). A tax lien covering 1998 was reportedly filed against Rose in California several years ago. The whopping new IRS lien comes as Rose continues to angle for admittance into baseball's Hall of Fame, despite his 1989 agreement to a lifetime ban from the sport (he applied in 1997 for reinstatement, a bid that remains pending). Rose, who spent five months in federal prison in 1990 following a guilty plea to a felony tax evasion charge, this year admitted--after repeated denials--that he bet on baseball games while managing the Cincinnati Reds. (1 page)