fact092508
On the homepage
Business
Out There
Fitness
Wimbledon
Home | Politically Connected | National Politics | U.S. Senate
Ads on Franken tax errors mislead and omit key facts
The accusatory messages don't explain that he paid, and overpaid, what he owed.
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on Digg
A recurring theme of the ad war in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race has been the claim of Sen. Norm Coleman and his allies that Democratic challenger Al Franken didn't pay taxes.
It has been an element of at least five different television commercials since July. The most recent appeared this week: "Then there's the $70,000 in unpaid taxes ..." says an announcer along with the written message, "Franken pays $70,000 back taxes, penalties."
An ad earlier this month announced, "He's already been caught not paying taxes in 17 states."
And in July, an ad featuring three bowlers included the remark, "We've read all this stuff about Al Franken, you know, not paying taxes ..."
How do the ads stand up to an audit?
The phrases accurately describe Franken's tax problem only in the most literal sense. They're misleading for what they don't say and the implication they leave.
In April, Franken, under pressure from a Republican blogger who raised questions about his tax filings, said he had paid $70,000 in back taxes and penalties owed in 17 states going back to 2003. Franken, who earned income across the country as an entertainer, blamed his accountant for failing to pay the appropriate taxes owed in each state.
Franken said that he had paid federal and state taxes on all of his income but that his accountant had failed to properly distribute the state payments. Instead, Franken said, he overpaid his taxes in New York and Minnesota, where he had lived, while failing to pay in the 17 other states where he earned income.
The redistribution of the state income taxes means he and his wife, Franni, should receive a refund on their overpayments in Minnesota and New York, Franken said.
Franken said he had originally paid a total of $917,344 in taxes over four years -- $4,151 less than he would have paid had the payments been distributed properly. Franken's campaign in April released a spreadsheet of what originally was paid to Minnesota and New York and where those payments should have gone.
While the campaign hasn't released tax returns or other evidence to document the redistribution the anti-Franken ads don't dispute his account. Some ads refer to him paying "back taxes, penalties."
Other ads from the Coleman campaign or the National Republican Senatorial Committee merely say that Franken hasn't paid taxes. There's no hint in those ads of him having paid taxes, only to the wrong jurisdictions, or to his unchallenged claim that it was a mistake he corrected.
Given the months that have passed since the tax story broke, the omissions could confuse viewers about what really happened.
Pat Doyle • 651-222-1210
Safety with fireworks
Loot from massive tax raid secured in an undisclosed location, could be on sale soon
Whistleblower reader Lewis Strong wanted to know what happened to all of the stuff that state revenue agents seized last week from a Burnsville car audio business to satisfy a whopping tax debt. Strong’s question was well timed, because the Minnesota Department of Revenue has been eager to discuss its crackdown on Bass Zone Inc., [...]
Recent posts
 Open House ShowcaseThousands of homes open this weekend!View all open houses >> View all homes for sale >> |
Win tickets to see Black Francis at Triple Rock.Vita.mn presents Black Francis (aka Frank Black of The Pixies) at Triple Rock on July 10. |
Comment on this story | Read all 34 comments | Hide reader comments