Another Politician in Tax Trouble

[CPT Tripss]

Palin must pay tax on past per diem, state says . . . see story at http://www.adn.com/palin/story/693695.html

Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials. The governor's office wouldn't say this week how much she owes in back taxes for meal money, or whether she intends to continue to receive the per diem allowance. As of December, she was still charging the state for meals and incidentals.

"The amount of taxes owed is a private matter," Sharon Leighow, Palin's spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. "If the governor collects future per diem, those documents would be a matter of public record."

The revelation about Palin comes as U.S. senators, including Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, are under scrutiny over back taxes. A survey by the political newspaper and Web site Politico (www.politico.com) found that Begich was one of seven senators who acknowledged owing back taxes.

Some other state employees also owe back income taxes for travel payments and will be getting revised tax forms, Annette Kreitzer, state administration commissioner, said in an e-mail.

 

[Scurvy]

To me, this sounds different than the other tax issues that have been in the news lately. According to the article: "At the Governor's request, we reviewed the situation to determine whether we were in full compliance with the pertinent Internal Revenue Service regulations," Kreitzer wrote. "As a result of this review, we determined that per diem needs to be treated as income, requiring a revision of W-2 forms for any affected employees."


If I am understanding correctly, it sounds like it was unclear before whether or not that income should have been taxed, and now that it's clear it should be they are expecting everyone involved to go back and pay taxes on it. It sounds reasonable to me.

 

[manning]

At the governor's request

 

[chris1gill]

At sixty dollars per day for more than 300 days in one year, I bet that's going to add up, wonder if they'll have to pay interest and penalties on that?

 

[mirmartinez]

At the governor's request

She requested it looked into after the issue was raised.

 

[RitaE]

If the State was issuing her W-2 without the income included on it, I doubt that she will owe penalties.

 

[manning]

She requested it looked into after the issue was raised.

At least she didn't depend on TurboTax

 

[manning]

If the State was issuing her W-2 without the income included on it, I doubt that she will owe penalties.

I think it would have been serious if it was included in the W-2 and she ignored.

Didn't one of the Dems do something his tax expert said not to do?