It's no crime to lie, in about 99 percent of our lives. But if you lie to the IRS about how much money you earn, you can land in prison. Ask Al Capone.

So, when Ed Richardson, the executive director of the state's largest teachers' union, was asked by the IRS to disclose his compensation in 2015, he came clean.

He listed it as $1.2 million in salary and benefits. You can look it up on the union's 990 tax form, which all non-profits must disclose. It's on Page 2 of Schedule J, in black and white.

The same page shows that it's basically a free-for-all at the union's headquarters in Trenton -- compensation for the top five NJEA officers averaged $764,000 in 2015.

And now Richardson is lying about all this, flat-out, despite the public record that puts any doubt to rest. In a union newsletter, he told his members that he earned about one-quarter the amount he listed on the IRS tax form.

I wanted to ask him about that, but he refused to talk. I tried to lure him out of hiding with an offer to discuss it by e-mail, and a promise to publish the exchange in full for all to see. He turned that down, too.

Even by Jersey standards, this guy has real chutzpah. I hate to admit it, but I almost admire him in a sporting kind of way.

What amazes me is that classroom teachers put up with it. They earn $70,000 a year on average, and these fat-cat pay packages are drawn from mandatory dues of about $900 a year.

"Teachers don't know that, and it's just outrageous," says Carol Brown, a retired teacher who was president of the Rutherford branch of the union until 2010. "Money seems to corrupt most people if they can get away with it."

The union, the New Jersey Education Association, is the most powerful special interest group in New Jersey, and it's not close. A study last year by the state Election Law Enforcement Commission found the NJEA had made $59 million in political donations over 15 years, more than twice the nearest competitor.

That spending, at least, has some logic to it. Teachers have a huge stake in political fights over pension and health benefit, tenure reform, charter schools, and testing.

But what's the logic behind paying Wall Street money to this crew? How does that help teachers?

It's made worse by the political ineptitude of this overfed clique. They are infuriating former friends in the Democratic Party this year by spending lavishly to back a Trump supporter in South Jersey against Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester).

When the senators complained, the new NJEA president, Marie Blistan, wrote a scorching public letter telling the senators they needed to find a "smarter strategy."

"The leadership of this union is unbelievably arrogant," Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), said Thursday. "I talked to other senators today and they are hot. There is going to be very long-term impact on relations with the NJEA."

Smith has teachers in his family, and he's won the union endorsement in the past, though not this year. I asked what he thought about the pay packages.

"I think if the membership knew that, there would be a revolution," he said.

Let's break down that $1.2 million that Richardson earned in 2015. The salary portion is $340,000, which is what he must have been referring to in the union newsletter. But the IRS form asks for money stuffed into hidden drawers as well, like deferred compensation. Richardson put that at $841,000, and added $32,000 more in "non-taxable benefits."

So, should deferred compensation count?

Here's an illustration: Let's say I mow your lawn, and you agree to pay me $10 today, and $30 more tomorrow. According to logic of the NJEA, I earned just $10 by mowing your lawn. It leaves out a lot. Which is why the IRS asks.

Let's compare Richardson's package to his peers in other parts of the same union. The executive director of the national NEA, which is much bigger than the Jersey branch, earns $554,000 in all, less than half as much as Richardson.

Look closer, at the Pennsylvania branch of the same union. Its executive director earns $332,000, about a quarter as much.

I bet Richardson knows all that, which explains why he won't discuss it. I tried Blistan, the union president, and she wouldn't talk either.

So, teachers in New Jersey, please ask yourself these questions: Why are your leaders paying themselves like this? Why are they lying about it? And why won't they crawl out from under their desks to discuss it?

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.