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View Full Version : Al Franken to pay 17 states $70,000 in back taxes



Yurt
04-30-2008, 09:23 AM
Al Franken to pay 17 states $70,000 in back taxes

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) -- Senate candidate Al Franken, dogged by accusations that he failed to file tax returns in California, said Tuesday he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003.

Most of the income at issue was from speeches and other paid appearances by the comedian-turned candidate, who said he got bad advice from his accountant but takes responsibility for the errors.

The Minnesota Democrat told The Associated Press that he and his wife, Franni, "paid taxes on every cent of income we ever had." He said that during the years in question, he followed the accountant's advice and paid his entire income tax bill to the city and state where he lived at the time. He lived in New York City from 2003 to 2005 and Minnesota in 2006.

"What happened is our accountant made a mistake, and all of these are repercussions of that same mistake," said Franken. "His mistake was not understanding the law, the obligation to pay these state taxes."

Franken said his finances became more complicated when he branched out from "Saturday Night Live" and started writing books and making speeches around the country.

His communications director, Andy Barr, said none of the 17 states attempted to contact Franken or his accountant seeking the unpaid personal income taxes.

Franken said once the payments to the states are settled, he would seek retroactive credit from his states of residence since much of the income taxes he paid to them was supposed to go instead to the 17 other states.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/30/franken.taxes.ap/index.html


if he is telling the truth, then he has a claim against his accountant as well...but with al the joke franken, truth is not his schtick

Abbey Marie
04-30-2008, 09:24 AM
Franni Franken? :laugh2:

Yurt
04-30-2008, 09:29 AM
Franni Franken? :laugh2:

*spits drink* missed that...

avatar4321
04-30-2008, 11:40 AM
well, I think a campaign ad just wrote itself:

Al Franken, wants to raise your taxes, but refuses to pay his.

mundame
04-30-2008, 12:41 PM
well, I think a campaign ad just wrote itself:

Al Franken, wants to raise your taxes, but refuses to pay his.



Maybe he can share a cell with Wesley Snipes.

Little-Acorn
04-30-2008, 12:56 PM
Actually, if what he says is true, it sounds like he did pay his taxes. Just to the wrong state(s). Another non-issue.

Didn't this sort of thing come to a head just a few years ago?

IIRC, under the "old" tax laws of ten years ago or more, if a guy lives in Colorado but goes to Nebraska to make a speech he gets paid for, he used to owe income taxes on that money he was paid for the speech, to Colorado since he is a resident there and was never a Nebraska resident. But under the "new" laws, enacted I think several years ago (can't remember exactly, the memory is always the second thing to go), he has to pay state income taxes on that speech not to Colorado but to Nebraska since he made the speech there.

It quickly became vastly complicated, of course. Baseball players played games in many different states and had to figure out how much of their salary they earned in each state. Did practice time in the state count? If a pitcher only played six of the nine innings, but played eight of nine in the next game in another state, how did that affect how much he "earned" in each game in each state?

Movie stars filmed different parts of a film in differrent location, often in multiple states. A three-minute scene in Iowa might take eight hours to stage, film, and proof; but a two-minute scene in Nevada might take three days.

And an airline pilot or stewardess might "work" in (or over) a dozen different states all in the course of one flight, a few minutes in each depending on how fast the plane was flying.

Messy as hell. But typical of government.