Franken owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states

[ben_meyers]

Source: StarTribune.com

By PATRICIA LOPEZ, Star Tribune
Last update: April 29, 2008 - 5:38 PM

DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, frontrunner in the race to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states, where he earned income going back to 2003.

Franken on Tuesday told the Associated Press that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that on the advice of his accountant, had paid taxes to the city and state where he lived.

Franken has been under fire since early March, when a Republican operative revealed that Franken had failed to pay workers' compensation and disability premiums for employees of his New York-based corporation, Alan Franken, Inc., between 2002 and 2005.

New York state officials had tried to collect the back premiums for four years, resorting to a collection agency and even filing a summary judgment against Franken in state Supreme Court last May for $25,000.



Read more: http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/18377884.html

---

I can't remember the Star Tribune going after a DFLer like they have been Franken. Must be new owners since I left.

[aquart]

1. Paying the tax may not stop them from dunning you.

God knows it didn't stop New York from going after us every damn year for a bill that was paid MORE THAN ONCE. But hey...

[truedelphi]

2. What's up with this??

Remember when Bill Clinton couldn't get any potential Supreme Court Appointees recommended because the nominees hadn't paid their nannies legally?
The Dems are always resistant to paying under the table, yet also reluctant to pay taxes.

Repugs are smart enough to do one or the other. But not dumb enough to elude the tax man.

[happyslug]

22. That was Attorney General NOT Supreme Court

Bill wanted a female Attorney General, but kept running into a problem. Most women who became lawyers also became mothers. What do you do with the Kid? If you were male, that was your wife's responsibility (and has been for centuries). Female Attorneys had to put the child into day care or find someone else to watch the kid while they were in the office. The problem with Clinton's attempted appointees was most had gone cheap, hired illegal aliens as nannies.

At the time Pat Schroeder made the comment, she had faced the same choice, go cheap or spend the extra money to hire someone who is native born or at least legal. Given she had political plans she opt to pay the higher costs of legal help, the first two proposed Female Attorney Generals of Clinton had NOT. After these two fell to the wayside as the legal status of their children's nanny's came up, Clinton opt for Reno, who as an unmarried woman had never had children, and this never had to hire a nanny.

IF you plan to go into politics, you have to be careful even before you enter politics. The women who Clinton tried to appoint had NOT been careful, and they paid the price (The women should have paid for a legal nanny, like Schroeder had done, but both of them had tried to cut costs and end up paying the price for being cheap).

Pat Schroeder:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Schroeder

More on Bill's First attempted appointment, Zoe Baird:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zo%C3%AB_Baird

How cheap can you be? paying the nanny $5 an hour while earning herself half a million dollars a year, no wonder the press jumped on the issue.

Through at least Zoe Baird paid taxes on her nanny (who had been an illegal immigrant), Bill's Second choice did not even do that (And she is still a Federal Judge, appointed by Reagan in 1988):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimba_Wood

[mountainvue]

29. Read the article. He paid them. n/t

[truedelphi]

38. If that is true, then it really sucks. n/t

[xchrom]

3. ok -- well if true -- that sucks. nt

[Algorem]

4. Oy.

[Jane Austin]

5. Oy Oy Oy . . . .

Wish I could make them dance across the screen like he used to on the Sundance Channel.

[Jane Austin]

6. Dupe, sorry

[gristy]

7. Franken did it right. I think.

Franken on Tuesday told the Associated Press that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that on the advice of his accountant, had paid taxes to the city and state where he lived.

That's my understanding of how this works too.

[ben_meyers]

9. His accountant should have been aware

Athletes and entertainers pay millions every year to the states they visit. Now some states are tracking down CEOs and others who earn money on the road.

Maybe Al can layoff the blame, but not the liability. Actually He should have known also.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/P112872.asp

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

10. That's correct...

I assume the state wants a piece of his speakers' fees for his local appearances.

Shame on his accountant -- he REALLY should have given better advice.

[dflprincess]

20. I suppose on one hand he should have known but on the other

isn't the reason people hire accountants is because they're suppose to be the experts and should know how to keep you out of trouble?

I hope we get a good look at Weasel-Boy's taxes.

[onehandle]

11. Doesn't matter. The headline is out there.

fuck.

[harmonicon]

8. I hope he uses this to his advantage - I think he can.

He should just pay the bills (I'm sure he will), and make a point - maybe even a commercial - about cleaning up the incredibly stupid and complicated system by with we are charged and have to pay taxes in this country. How many other people have been fucked over by the taxman when they were also not trying to avoid anything? This isn't all bad news - the idea of it being bad news is Republican spin. I just hope that Mr. Franken doesn't fall for that trap, because I think he would make a good senator.

[AZ Criminal JD]

12. If Al is telling the truth then that means he overpaid in the state he lived.

They will owe him a refund which will approximate what he owes elsewhere not counting penalties and interest. On the other hand if he is lying and paid the proper amount to the state he lived it will come out.

[Infinite Hope]

13. As a Ciresi and then Franken supporter, if this blows up in May, Jack Nelson-Palmier could...

snatch the nomination. I've been shocked at the way the Nelson-Palmier campaign has been able to quietly build on the grassroots level to the point where they overtook Ciresi and essentially forced him out of the race (dropped to 3rd place even after loaning himself $2 million). Nelson-Palmier's grassroots interest has the potential to be very similar to the original Paul Wellstone campaign.

[DS1]

14. A tax-dodging democrat?

The wingers love an anything-dodging democrat, makes you wonder what they prefer taking in the face.

[ohio2007]

15. always the comedian

[goodhue]

16. Why Jack Wins

http://www.jackforsenate.org/WhyJackWins.htm

[Thor_MN]

17. Makes me wonder if I owe an East Coast state for the couple weeks that I worked there

I'm guessing that my situation was different. I worked for several weeks at an East Coast branch office of the company that I worked for. I was paid by the Minnesota branch for the time that I was there. Although I'm sure if I had been making a hell of a lot more money and I was running for public office, someone would find a way to make a stink about it.

[AZ Criminal JD]

21. Are you an entertainer or athlete?

If not you only owe where you live (on a permanent basis).

[tpsbmam]

23. Or a consultant....

I have a friend who works in various states as a consultant. She works on contracts that last from a couple of months to a couple of years. In the times when she's worked on like 3 contracts in a year in 3 different states, she has to file taxes in all of those states.

[dflprincess]

18. The Strib has been sold to an investment group

and the quality is sinking fast.

There's a thread in the Minnesota Forum about Mrs. Senator Weasel's Blo and Go business and a comment in that thread that links to a blog about the Star Tribune's bias in the senate race (they rarely mention the 3rd candidate, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer). There's also a good LTTE to the paper today about this.

[Zachstar]

19. Al has been having an extremely hard time on this campaign.

The race has caused a severe lack of attention on the congressional races allowing republicans to make ground.

We need Al in the senate! I hope he can get over this bump.

[hedgehog]

24. How many people posting here have paid their home state the sales tax

on items purchased out of state via the internet?

[Psephos]

25. How many here are running for Senate? How many are as rich as Franken?

Not many, I reckon.

[scarface2004]

26. so?

we all have our tax problems. big deal.

[DemoTex]

27. We paid state income tax in four states this year .. we live in SC.

SC, IL, TX, and CA. We only owed $145 in California, but our CPA said that was the most important check to get in on time. He told me of a client (Texas resident) with similar sources of income who gaffed-off a $100 income tax obligation to the great state of California. The client did not open subsequent correspondence from California Dept. of Revenue, until a registered letter arrived. He was dunned over $15,000, penalties and interest, on his original $100 obligation.

[mainer]

31. I posted a question about this below -- the issue is confusing

If one invents a product that is then sold in all 50 states, do you have to file fifty different state income tax forms? And doesn't that mean you're a victim of taxation without representation, since you don't even live in those states?

[mountainvue]

28. The headline is Franken PAYS $70,000 in

back taxes.

[mainer]

30. I've been confused on this with my own taxes

I earn income based on products that are sold in all 50 states. I pay taxes on my full income in my home state. Yet it seems like all 49 other states might want me to pay income taxes in THEIR states as well. So I would have to file fifty different state tax returns.

A woman from the California tax office told me that airline pilots have to pay state income taxes in EVERY STATE where their commercial jet lands. She said that UAL pilots, for instance, pay income taxes in multiple states. Is this true? And does this make any sense, when the pilot is already paying taxes in his home state?

My own accountant disputes that California claim. But it would be a nightmare for anyone whose invention or art or publication sells in all fifty states.


Any commercial pilots here? Do you pay taxes in multiple states?

[DemoTex]

33. Airline pilots pay state income tax in their residence state only.

The test case was long ago, and I think it was in Oregon. Can you imagine the scenario if I made a non-scheduled fuel stop in a state my airline doesn't serve, spent thirty minutes on the ground, and then proceeded to my destination, and was subsequently expected to cough-up income tax?

In fact, residence state is not always crew-domicile state. I commuted from Dallas to my domicile bases of DCA and PIT for years. Texas had no state income tax (per se).

Our current situation arises from my wife's Sub-Chapter S corporation and the infamous Schedule K-1. That has us paying "income" tax in four states (including our residence state of SC). So I guess the pittance we now pay Texas is really a corporate tax.

[mainer]

35. Thank you. I guessed that California lady was lying to me.

She was trying to get me to send the state of California a very large check (in the thousands) when she told me that myth about airline pilots filing multiple state tax forms. And yes, I can't imagine the scenario if taxpayers routinely had to file forms for multiple states. It would also mean headaches trying to figure out how to deduct those extra-state taxes from our home state income taxes.

[joeglow3]

37. Only if you have nexus in a state

typically, nexus is generated by having either payroll in a state or capitalized assets. Thus, if you operate out of your home, you only owe taxes in your home state. On the other hand, lets say you run it from one state, have a distribution center in another and pay someone who lives in a third. In this case, you would need to calculate your apportionment (the calculation is based on sales, property and payroll, but varies by state) for just those three states and not pay in any others. Thus, Fraken owes taxes in any state he actually worked in.

Franken either REALLY sucks at picking an accountant because this is a simple, basic concept for accountants or he is lying. Either way, this does not make him look good.

[patrick t. cakes]

32. the op headline is wrong.

he doesn't owe. he payed. read the article.

[ben_meyers]

36. The original headline was "owes"

it was changed in this mornings updated story.

[libodem]

34. I hope there is no trouble

and that this is all resolved. I have so much respect for Al's take on politics. I've been listening to Lying Liars via books on tape, in my car. This is my second time through it. I'd love to read 'Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot', too. Al's commentaries on life are very astute.