Former Saturday Night Live writer and Air America Radio host Al Franken to pay taxes he had already paid:
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 2003-05 and Minnesota in 2006.
He didn’t try to avoid paying taxes. He paid the taxes. He just paid them to the states he lived in at the time and not the states where he earned the actual income. To be honest, I’ve always been lead to believe that was how it worked. You didn’t pay taxes to the state or states you earned the income, but to the state where you lived.
I live in Maryland, but I work in Pennsylvania. Other then a stupid once-a-year tax I have to pay for the right to work in Pennsylvania, I don’t pay taxes in Pennsylvania. That once-a-year tax is not based on my actual income. It’s a flat fee that everyone working in Pennsylvania must pay. It’s based on the county you are working. The only state income tax I pay is to Maryland.
Al Franken and his taxes have been under much scrutiny lately because of the fact that he is running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He’s running in his home state of Minnesota. I imagine that there is a lot of pressure running for elected office in Minnesota. It is after all the state that elected former professional wrestler and current 9-11 conspiracy crackpot Jesse Ventura as it’s governor.
How embarrassing it would be to lose an election in Minnesota.
by Rick on April 30, 2008
Texas Republican/Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul is running for President and he thinks the above photo is that of a human being. It’s a fertilized egg. He believes it is a person like you and me.
I was listening to Air America Radio yesterday and heard the host conduct an interview with Ron Paul.
Ron Paul is at his core a Libertarian which means he thinks the government shouldn’t pass laws that prohibit people from doing things unless doing those things impede or intrude on the rights of others. Unless it’s something Ron Paul personally doesn’t like. In that case, he’s all for laws that prohibit that.
Ron Paul is against abortion. I heard him say so on Air America Radio. Normally I would tell someone who is against abortion to simply not have one. In Ron Paul’s case, that’s not very practical advice because he doesn’t even have a uterus.
He wont ever need to have an abortion.
That’s not good enough for Ron Paul. He doesn’t want anyone else to get an abortion either. He said in the Air America Radio interview that he is an OB/GYN doctor and over the course of his career he has delivered close to 4 million babies. Maybe it was closer to 4 thousand babies. I don’t remember. The point is, because he has delivered a whole bunch of babies, he doesn’t want a woman to have a choice when it comes to something as important as her own reproduction.
He wants to make that choice for women everywhere.
Ron Paul even authored legislation that sought to define that human life begins at conception. He not only believes a fertilized egg is a person, he wants everyone else to believe that too. He wants it to be a law.
That doesn’t sound too Libertarian to me.
by Rick on October 10, 2007
Last year I did some volunteer work for Andrew Duck, a Democratic candidate for the United States House of Representatives. He sought to represent Maryland’s 6th congressional district against Republican incumbent Roscoe Bartlett. Normally I would automatically support anyone running against Bartlett. Duck was different in that I really thought he would make a good Representative. Unlike chicken-hawk Bartlett, Duck served over 20 years in the United States Army, serving three tours in Bosnia and one tour in Iraq in 2003.
I wasn’t voting against Bartlett, I was voting for Duck.
I guess because of my volunteer work, I ended up on a Maryland Democratic email list. Tonight I received an email inviting me to a special Maryland Democratic Gala event in Greenbelt, Maryland. The keynote speaker at this Gala will be Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.
To be honest, I don’t really know what a Gala is.
If I want to go to this Gala, I have two options. I can pay $250 and be a regular Gala Guest or I can pay $500 and be a VIP guest. As a $500 VIP, not only would I be attending the Gala, but I would be able to attend the special VIP Reception held prior to the regular old Gala.
The $250 guests don’t get to attend the Reception. I guess they have to sit in their cars and listen to Air America Radio.
There is something horrifically wrong with our political system. I volunteer to deliver VOTE DUCK yard signs to old people and now I get emails from my political party offering to let me hang out with them if I agree to pay enough for the privilege. I should not have to pay $500 to listen to my governor give a speech.
This isn’t how the political process is supposed to work. It is broken.
by Rick on September 4, 2007
