Al Franken to pay 17 states $70,000 in back taxes

Entertainers and sports figures often go to states and cities that may or may not have "entertainment" taxes, in order to increase revenues. The tax codes are so arcane, it's a wonder that anybody who works in multiple venues is able to pay the right taxes to the right state, city, county, township, district, etc.

CNN is such a great website. I keep being able to predictably find news stories that people reference on their site.(1) To be honest, I don't even know who Al Franken is. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Senate candidate Al Franken says he paid income taxes to the wrong states for several years. ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hrm, well, if that is true, then it appears that Al wasn't trying to get out of paying taxes. That is, if he paid taxes to the wrong state. Perhaps he was using tax laws and trying to pay taxes to a state which would be less costly to him. With Franken turning to politics, it seems possible to me that his opponents dug through his taxes looking for weaponry to use against him. However, as I read Franken's response, I think he's dealing with it very well. Everyone makes mistakes and, in this case, Franken's payment of state taxes seems to be understandable. He paid the taxes. He just paid them to his state of residence at the time instead of in all 17 states in which he earned money for public speaking or performances. Now, I think his tax guy should be fired. Tax guy should have known better. Or, at least, Tax guy should have looked it up. Still, Franken is not dodging responsibility and not claiming that he has no obligation to pay taxes... as we've seen recently with other celebrities.(2) Wesley Snipes, in particular, seems to be a particularly troubled individual when it comes to paying taxes. (I should note, for the record, that the Wikipedia article about Snipes is a very good way to get an overview of his legal situation. Kudos to Wikipedia.) I believe, even with the initial tendency to umbrage over rich guys trying to stay rich by not paying taxes, that Franken's straight-forward manner of addressing his tax issues is most respectable. Heck, I'm not ordinarily predisposed to treat seriously a comedian who tries to run for public office, but – this helps improve my attitude. Kudos for Franken. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Various included footnotes: 1) Al Franken to pay 17 states $70,000 in back taxes - ( http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/30/franken.taxes.ap/ ) 2) Wesley Snipes - ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Snipes ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have to retract my statement, at least partially. From what I have read, Ronald Isley didn't pay taxes for twenty years ('76-'96), and Wesley Snipes owed $12mil. I was going to go off into a tirade and talk about how there was no jail time for Franken, in this case he hasn't been owing as long as one (Isley) or as much as the other (Snipes). Here are the stories I found. Isley http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/09/02/ronald_isley_gets_3_years_for_tax_evasion/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News Snipes http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16109063 They both claim the accountant mistakes too, are there that many bad accountants in the world lol?