Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, a close associate of US President Barack Obama, has dismissed as politically motivated allegations that he owed millions of dollars in tax.
In a lengthy front-page article, The New York Times reported that there are more than $US4.5 million ($A4.87 million) in current state and federal tax liens against the TV host and his for-profit businesses.
The newspaper wrote that Sharpton had regularly avoided obligations most people see as inevitable, such as taxes, rent and other bills.
Sharpton's non-profit National Action Network "appears to have been sustained for years by not paying federal payroll taxes on its employees," the New York Times said.
He and the charity have "repeatedly failed to pay travel agencies, hotels and landlords" and Sharpton had intermingled the finances of the organisation with his own to pay his daughters' school fees, the paper said.
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Sharpton, who is close not only to Obama but also New York mayor Bill de Blasio, denounced the article as "absolutely inaccurate".
"The story is at best misleading and totally out of context," he told a news conference in New York, alleging it was based on out of date figures.
He said he had paid his taxes personally on a quarterly basis since 2008 and that the Network owed no taxes since 2006.
But he declined to mention how much he or his companies, Raw Talent and Revals Communications, may owe in backlog arrears and potential fines.
"A lot of people don't like the fact that President Obama is the president. A lot of people don't like the fact that Bill de Blasio won for mayor," he said.
"And they certainly don't like the fact that I'm still here. And I ain't going nowhere."
