Song Xiangping, originally from Hunan, China, and currently engaged in agriculture in the East District of Honolulu, was arrested due to tax issues and is being held in federal detention. The federal court has scheduled a hearing for April 25 of this year.
According to documents released by the federal court, Song Xiangping began operating a sole proprietorship in Honolulu, growing basil, in January 2009, selling it to restaurants and retailers in Honolulu. He opened accounts at Hawaii Bank, American Savings Bank, and Central Pacific Bank to store payments from customers. When filing taxes for that year and the following year (2010), Song Xiangping only provided handwritten rough records of income and expenses to his accountant for tax filing.
The IRS discovered that the sales data for these two years differed from the actual reported amounts by over hundreds of thousands of dollars. As a result, the IRS imposed fines based on this discrepancy, requiring Song Xiangping to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes for the years 2009 and 2010. In 2011, Song Xiangping's tax return was again scrutinized due to discrepancies in amounts. In late February 2015, IRS agents detained Song Xiangping based on an arrest warrant approved by a federal judge.
Currently held in federal detention, Song Xiangping recently wrote a letter stating that he came to the United States from China in pursuit of a better future, and starting a farm in Honolulu was his first attempt in his career. He works diligently every day to make a living. Unfortunately, just as his business began to show promise, he inadvertently fell afoul of the law due to his ignorance of U.S. laws. Having developed the habit of paying in cash since childhood in his home country, he did not retain receipts, making it impossible to provide concrete evidence during tax filing, leading to legal issues. "But this was never his intention to violate the law."
Additionally, the language barrier has deeply affected him during this incident. Due to the language gap, there are many things he cannot express, and he is unable to communicate many thoughts to the investigators in English. Therefore, he is taking the opportunity to learn English from his roommate every day.
Song Xiangping, straightforward and robust, has the physique and direct personality of a Northerner. He enjoys making friends and takes care of fellow countrymen who have just arrived in the United States. After this incident, he emphasized that he will strive to learn relevant U.S. laws in the future and hopes to alert new immigrants. After changing countries, all thinking must be based on new laws to avoid legal penalties.
Currently awaiting sentencing in detention, he emphasized that this shock has inevitably impacted him, but it will not extinguish his original goal of coming to the U.S. He is using this time to calm down and study diligently. In addition to asking his daughter to purchase books for him, he has also subscribed to the World Journal to stay informed about the overseas Chinese community and international events. According to his daughter, he originally knew very few English words, but now during their phone calls, he occasionally manages to say a few English words.
