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WHO’S INVOLVED: Rocky Mountain Properties LLC
HOW MUCH DO THEY OWE? $943,705
THE BACKSTORY: Joe Dunne says Rocky Mountain Properties LLC is a real estate company that improves and leases property. In a phone call, he wouldn’t say much else about it.
But like many of our tardy taxpayers, he is also in the weed business.
Dunne, 41, is the owner of Left Coast Canopy, which operates the Zion Cannabis shops in Southwest Portland and out in Ontario, on the border with Idaho, where pot is still illegal.
Rocky Mountain Properties is weed-adjacent at the very least. It owns the building that Zion occupies in Ontario, according to the Malheur County assessor’s office.
Dunne joined the green rush in January 2015, when he registered Left Coast Canopy with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office. A lawyer by training, Dunne kept practicing through March 2016, earning $7,083 a month, according to divorce court records.
If those records are to be believed, the cannabis shops have been very good for Dunne. A judgment on support for the couple’s two children, dated Jan. 19 of this year, shows that Dunne was earning $20,000 a month, almost triple his law firm salary.
The couple are still in court over their divorce. Their next court date is Sept. 26.
Beyond taxes, Dunne has had trouble paying off credit cards, too. Midland Credit Management sued him in Multnomah County Circuit Court in September 2020, alleging he had failed to pay a Capital One credit card bill for $4,352.19.
Judge Stephen Bushong ruled in favor of Midland on Dec. 16, 2020, ordering that Dunne pay the bill, with interest of 9% a year, until it was zeroed out.
INTERESTING DETAIL: Dunne got to keep all of Left Coast Canopy in the divorce, according to court records, along with his 2009 Acura, which he bought after they split up.
WHAT DO THEY SAY? Dunne says he doesn’t owe the state the amount it claims. “That number is derived from returns on a profitable company, but does not take into account any of the offsetting losses from other (unprofitable) companies,” Dunne said in a text message. “It’s an erroneous number that doesn’t actually reflect what I owe the state. I don’t owe the state anywhere close to that much money. I am working diligently with the state to correct this. The state has been very helpful, and I anticipate a quick resolution.”
WHAT THE BACK TAXES COULD BUY: The services of almost 17 administrative specialists to fulfill public records requests related to cannabis and liquor licensing compliance. The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission says it needs at least two because of an uptick in requests from tax authorities and other agencies “related to alleged tax irregularities, improper financial reporting or other criminal matters.”