City Comptroller John Liu’s top political adviser is an accused tax deadbeat.
Chung Seto, Liu’s longtime campaign manager, owes the federal government up to $175,000 in back taxes, The Post has learned.
The IRS slapped Seto with two separate tax liens, for $100,871 for the 2007 tax year and $74,206 for 2008.
The liens — issued in August and June of this year — claim that Seto’s liability centers on underpaying personal income taxes.
“This is a personal tax matter that is being worked out with the IRS,” said Liu’s campaign spokesman, George Arzt.
Liu has paid Seto a total of $304,000 through his campaign accounts since 2006, records show.
The IRS scrutiny is just the latest concern for Liu’s political operation.
Last month, a Liu campaign moneyman, Xing Wu “Oliver” Pan, was busted by the feds for allegedly agreeing to funnel $16,000 in illegal contributions to the campaign through straw donors.
A federal fund-raising probe is ongoing.
Seto is so close to Liu that she has joined him on trips to meet financiers seeking a piece of the city’s $120 billion pension fund.
Liu also named Seto as his appointee to the Museum of Modern Art’s board of trustees.
Meanwhile, Liu raised eyebrows last month when he gave an average raise of $2,700 to 15 percent of his staff.
The raises, doled out to 126 of his 714 staffers, will add another $338,000 a year to the city’s expenses — and increase the city’s pension costs.
“These are modest and well-deserved pay increases for hardworking men and women who have been here for an average of 15 years,” said Liu’s spokesman, Matt Sweeney.