Franken Owes Taxes to 17 States

Obama Distances Himself from Wacky Wright »

by Sean Hackbarth

Al Franken

Al Franken tried to come clean by telling the AP his companies owe $70,000 in taxes to 17 states:

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.

Ah, tossing the accountant under the bus. At least it wasn’t his grandmother.

We don’t know if this will be the final shoe to drop. Judging from the mismanagement of Franken’s campaign a place like Puerto Rico could come calling demanding him to pay up.

“Franken Owes $70,000 in Back Taxes in 17 States” [via NRSC]

[picture via Nevin]

UPDATE: The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a round-up of reactions. I thank them for linking to TAM and noticing my typo.

UPDATE II: In an update to the story Franken says he paid all that he owed in taxes. It’s just his accounted didn’t distribute them properly:

Franken said that he paid federal and state taxes on all of his income, but that the accountant had failed to properly distribute the tax payments.

The net result, Franken said, was that between 2003 and 2006, he overpaid taxes in New York and Minnesota while failing to pay in 17 other states where he earned income.

Franken said the $70,000 is his newly hired tax team’s estimation of taxes and penalties owed in the various states. Once those tax returns have been processed, he said he will be able to apply for a credit on taxes overpaid in New York and Minnesota.

In total Franken said he under paid taxes by just over $4,000.

Franken could help clear things up by releasing his tax returns, but he refuses.

So this isn’t so much Franken trying to evade paying his taxes. It was poor management. Just like his Senate campaign right now.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 6:41 pm and is filed under Politics, Minnesota. You can trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Franken Owes Taxes to 17 States”

Franken Pays $70,000 in Back Taxes to 17 States…

Al Franken accidentally forgot to pay $70,000 in taxes to 17 states over the past five years.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, front-runner in the race to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, said on Tuesday that he has paid $70,00…

Posted by Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 30th, 2008

oh please - $70,000 in back taxes? That’s supposed to be some kind of scandal? Get your facts straight - 70K is less than a drop in the bucket compared to the fines levied against bona fide tax cheats - keep trying to make this into news…

Posted by Paul Serrano on April 30th, 2008

You fail to mention that while he underpaid 17 states by $66K, he at the same time overpaid Minnesota and NY by $66K, and is due a refund. The extra $4K is for the interest and penalties he owes due to paying to the wrong juridiction.

Why did you leave out this simple fact? Were you unable to get to the second paragraph of the article?

Posted by Garx on May 1st, 2008

Paul, the story was updated after I wrote my post. I will add an update.

Posted by Sean Hackbarth on May 1st, 2008

Hmmm. Does the Stribs’ story mention that Frankin’ was also fined for not paying Workers Comp?

The question remains: do you Gophers want this Frankin’ fool who can’t manage his own affairs managing yours?

Posted by MjM on May 2nd, 2008

To Paul S: Agreed!

To Paul H: Tax accountants make mistakes *all* the time like this. Have you ever used an accountant, or are you just experienced at using hackneyed phrases like “throwing under the bus”? I know of *no one* who makes a decent living and relies on an accountant who gets into every detail of their taxes. After 18 years of using this accountant, Franken undoubtedly relied on him to continue to “do his job.” The thing that’s so ughly here, is that you infer that Franken somehow wanted to “get out of” paying taxes, when it’s clearly not the case–unless you want to include his overpayment of taxes in MN and NY. (What, selective tax-based, illegal philanthropy??).

To MjM: Not paying Worker’s Comp for his HUGE employee base at Al Franken, LLC?? Look, he’s s small businessman, ultimately–our system of taxation is clearly slanted *against* people like this. Unless you’ve been a single “LLC” entity, and had to deal with the nonsense the IRS puts us through, you really have no idea what’s going on here. It’s a bloody nightmare being treated as if my small company (single employee–me) were a conglomerate. This Frankin’ fool is one of the clearest, keenest minds in the country. What we *don’t* need is the usual nickle and diming that a liberal candidate can expect from the “right.”

Posted by greg moreau on May 20th, 2008