Claire McCaskill Pays Taxes

Claire McCaskill Pays Back Taxes for Airplane

Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said she has sent a check for $287,273 to St. Louis County for back taxes on her private plane.

The money covers four years' worth of personal property taxes owed on the plane plus interest and penalties, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday.

"This was a mistake," McCaskill told reporters in a conference call. "It should have been reported in Missouri. It should have been paid in Missouri."

Earlier McCaskill revealed she had written an $88,000 personal check to the U.S. Treasury Department to reimburse taxpayers for public money spent on flying the plane around Missouri.

Monday the Missouri Republican Party took out a full-page advertisement in a Springfield, Mo., newspaper, urging McCaskill to release more details on the plane.

"We hope that you will hold yourself to the same accountability and transparency standards that you demand of others," wrote party chairman, David Cole.

McCaskill said she has persuaded her husband to "sell the damn plane."