The following report by Team 4 investigator Paul Van Osdol first aired on Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2005.

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Part of their job is to decide how much we pay in taxes, but Team 4 found three local legislators who have tax problems.

One of them had a tax lien against his home which he paid after we started asking questions. The other two had liens against their businesses totaling tens of thousands of dollars.

Quiznos in State College and another in Morgantown are owned by a company called American Delis.

The company is based at the California law office of state Rep. Peter Daley.

Daley and his wife started the company 20 years ago; he was president until last year, when his wife took over.

Team 4 found more than $200,000 in state and federal tax liens filed against American Delis.

Some of the liens also identify Daley individually.

Van Osdol: "Can you say why you have $200,000 in back taxes, sir?"

Daley: "I don't have $200,000 in back taxes."

Van Osdol: "Then why are there liens on file at the Washington County courthouse saying you owe $200,000 in taxes?"

Daley: "You're wrong. You double-check."

Team 4 did double-check, and while Daley does not personally owe $200,000, his company does.

Later, Daley sent Team 4 this statement saying: "American Delis has a signed agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue regarding payment of owed sales taxes."

His statement also says the company "is currently working with the IRS regarding penalties and interest."

Daley also says he no longer is an officer of the company -- just a shareholder.

Sen. Barry Stout of Washington County is not only a powerful legislator on transportation issues, he was in the transportation business himself.

Stout is still an officer of Unity Railway, which owned a small railroad line in Plum Borough. The tracks are gone but Unity Railway still owns the property.

The company owes about $20,000 in back taxes -- mostly to the borough and the Plum School District. Stout declined to talk on camera.

He told Team 4 by phone, "'We've been attempting to sell the land ... and when the property sells, the taxes will be paid."

Another legislator who had tax troubles is Rep. Joe Preston of Pittsburgh.

Four years ago, the IRS filed a lien on Preston's home, saying he and his wife owed nearly $10,000 in taxes.

"It was an argument about how much was really owed on a distribution on top of our annual income that we took from some stock options," said Preston.

When we first asked Preston about the lien, he insisted it had been paid off. "I'm saying it has been settled. It's been paid off and we reached an agreement," said Preston.

In fact, court records show the lien was satisfied, but only three weeks after Team 4 first started asking Preston about it.

Team 4 took the findings on all three lawmakers to the head of a coalition that opposed the legislative pay raise.

"There's no excuse for this," said Tim Potts of Democracy Rising.

Potts says he hopes tax collectors are as aggressive with legislators as they would be with regular taxpayers.

"If the laws allow the government to go after ordinary citizens and garnish their wages, legislators ought to be treated exactly the same way," said Potts.

In fact, a new law enacted by the legislature makes it easier for the state to garnish wages against people who haven't paid their taxes.

A spokesman for the Revenue Department says lawmakers will be treated no differently than anybody else.