LEWISTON (AP) - A legislative ethics committee has been appointed to look into whether a state lawmaker who refuses to pay income taxes used his position to get special treatment.

Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, has picked a series of fights with state and federal tax collectors in recent years and has argued in court that income taxes are unconstitutional. The Internal Revenue Service has filed nearly $300,000 in tax liens against Hart in the last year, and state tax officials say he owes another $53,000 in state income taxes, interest and penalties.

This week, Idaho House Speaker Lawerence Denney appointed a seven-member ethics panel to look into Hart's case. The review will also include claims Hart made to the state Tax Commission that he should be allowed to delay filing his appeal on some tax claims as long as the Legislature was in session.

Democrats contend Hart's reason for seeking the delay amounts to a misuse of the legislative privilege. Democratic leaders, who requested the ethics inquiry, have also questioned Hart's role on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee as a conflict of interest.

Denney said the committee will begin meeting in August.

"It's important for both the House and Rep. Hart to have this matter resolved quickly and fairly," Denney told the Lewiston Tribune.

Denney named Rep. Thomas Loertscher, R-Iona, as committee chairman and Rep. Wendy Jacquet, D-Ketchum, as co-chairwoman. Other lawmakers appointed to the ethics panel include: Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg; Rep. Bert Stevenson, R-Rupert; Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry; Rep. Bill Killen, D-Boise; and Rep. George Sayler, D-Coeur d'Alene.

Hart was confident in a statement he e-mailed to the Coeur d'Alene Press on Wednesday.

"I welcome the opportunity to tell my story to the Ethics Committee," he wrote. "I think the speaker picked a balanced committee, and I am confident the committee will do a good job."

According to state rules, the ethics committee could recommend dismissal of the complaint. But it could ask that Hart be reprimanded, censured or expelled from the Legislature. A reprimand or censure would require a majority vote by the House; expulsion would require a two-thirds vote.

Hart, who is running unopposed for a fourth term, has said he welcomes the ethics inquiry and the chance to tell his side of the story.

Hart stopped paying income taxes in 1996 when he filed a lawsuit against the IRS contending the tax is unconstitutional. A federal tax judge in Spokane rejected his argument in 2000, saying Hart had shown "an intentional disregard of the rules and regulations."

Hart's appeal was unsuccessful, and he conceded in 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the case.

The series of new federal liens, all filed in Kootenai County over the past year, cover tax years from 1997 through 2003, and also 2006 and 2008.

Earlier this year, Hart proposed legislation to eliminate Idaho's state income tax on all earned income while boosting sales tax from 6 to 8.25 percent. The bill didn't get a hearing.