Was Sly James late in paying his taxes for 2014? Yes. Does it have bearing on his candidacy? No.

Clay Chastain’s defeat at the polls on April 7 isn’t keeping the Virginia man out of Kansas City politics, after all.

Chastain, who finished last in the three-candidate primary last week, called out Kansas City Mayor Sly James for “yet another unethical act for personal advantage” in an e-mail sent Tuesday to local media. In it, he claims that James was late on his taxes when he filed to run for a second term.

Kansas City’s charter says that in order to be “elected or appointed to the Council, including as Mayor” that a person, among other things, must be “current on all city taxes or municipal user fees, as attested by the candidate to the City Clerk.”

(It also says mayoral candidates must be Kansas City residents for five years prior to the election [Clarification: The charter requires residency in Kansas City for five years, including two years immediately prior to election day. Chastain has lived in Virginia for more than two years]. Chastain claims Kansas City residency, even though he lives in Virginia and couldn’t attend one of two mayoral forums because he needed to get back to Bedford, Virginia.)

On Wednesday, Chastain doubled down, announcing his intention to sue James in Jackson County to have him disqualified from the general municipal election in June. Chastain is representing himself in the case.

When James filed to run for mayor on December 9, 2014, he was current on his property taxes for that year. Just four days earlier, he had paid his personal property taxes owed on two vehicles for the 2013 tax year. That means he was late on his 2013 taxes, but was paid up on all his taxes owed when he signed an affidavit saying so on December 9. 

Chastain’s argument is that James’ sworn statement was no longer true on January 1. That’s because his 2014 taxes, all $466.65 of them, hadn’t been paid on the last day of 2014, which is Jackson County’s deadline for paying real and personal property taxes.

January 10 was the filing deadline for municipal candidates. The Kansas City Clerk on that day confirmed James, Chastain and Lee for the primary ballot. But James’ taxes hadn’t been paid by then.

In fact, he didn’t pay them until February 2. When he did, he owed a $60 fee for late payment.

The Pitch asked James’ office why the taxes were late, and got this response from spokesman Michael Grimaldi:

The mayor was advised that taxes on a newly purchased vehicle for a family member had been paid when the car was registered with the state. When he later learned that personal property taxes on that vehicle in fact had not been paid as part of the auto registration process, he promptly paid the tax.

So did James make a major error? Is his candidacy in trouble?

The simple answer is no.

James was current on his taxes by the time the April 7 election rolled around.

The city charter says that “to be elected” to public office in Kansas City, taxes must be current. James hasn’t been elected yet in this current election cycle.

The charter is silent about whether the candidate can be late on taxes between the time he files and when the general election occurs. James was current on taxes when he signed the affidavit, even by Chastain’s own admission.

More importantly, James is current on his taxes now.

Missouri law spells out a procedure by which a candidate could be disqualified for tax delinquency. It says that another candidate in the race must file a legal challenge. Chastain has done this, claiming that he’s still a candidate because the Kansas City Election Board hasn’t certified the results from last week’s election.

If a challenge occurs, the candidate in question has 30 days to pay his taxes. If he or she does so, the issue is settled, and they can continue on as a candidate. If not, they’re out of the race. (Check Missouri statute 115.342 if you don’t believe us.)

But the issue is really moot because James, once again, is current on all his taxes. Chastain’s challenge is dead on arrival.

We called Chastain to see if he had bothered to look at the state law on this matter.

“I have absolutely no idea,” he says.

Why? Because he’s representing himself; he couldn’t find a lawyer to take his case.

“Because I tried to get an attorney to take the case for two days, but it was too hot a political potato,” he tells The Pitch.

There’s an argument to be made that James, as the titular leader of the city, has an obligation to pay his taxes on time and set an example for the rest of the city. But sometimes taxes get paid late. People get busy. Responsibilities slip through the cracks. Going to the DMV is a drag.

Mark Funkhouser once drove around on expired tags while he was mayor. People fix it and move on, unless they’re Clay Chastain.

Chastain himself should know a bit about being stuck in squirmy tax situations. When Chastain, who lives in Virginia, tried to argue that he’s a Kansas City resident for the purposes of running for mayor, he was reminded that he should then pay his city earnings taxes for the landscape work he does in Virginia. He hadn’t done so up to that point.

When asked about it on Wednesday, he said he was simply ignorant of his obligation. If he lived in Kansas City, he would have known about it.