Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken’s personal corporation didn’t file corporate income tax returns in California from 2003 to 2007. He now owes more than $4,000 in back taxes, penalties and fees. Franken campaign spokeswoman Jess McIntosh said if Franken’s business owes the money it will pay up, which is nice, given that it is illegal to not file or pay corporate taxes. The AP adds:
AFI was in the headlines in recent weeks after it emerged that New York state had fined Franken $25,000 for failure to pay workers’ compensation insurance while employing people from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid the penalty and an $833 fine for failing to pay disability insurance.
The AP also refers to Franken as a “former comedian,” though it might be disputed as to whether he was ever funny or has stopped being a bad joke.
Update: Insta-lanche!
Comment by Enoch_Root - TWP also on 4/16 @ 2:39 pm #
Dammit, Karl - Al intended to pay his “fair share… it’s just his latte machine needed a new henway and his Bally’s membership had a missing dickfer in it.
Comment by MarkD on 4/16 @ 2:47 pm #
Taxes are for the little guy.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 4/16 @ 2:47 pm #
Lefty SOP — regulation for thee, but not for me.
The most doctrinaire liberal I ever knew bragged about all his summer jobs being paid under the table while calling for higher income taxes.
Comment by Mikey NTH on 4/16 @ 2:48 pm #
To the progressive, all things are progressive.
Comment by jdm on 4/16 @ 2:59 pm #
OK, OK, Enoch, what’s a henway?
Comment by Enoch_Root on 4/16 @ 4:50 pm #
jdm - I thought you would never ask!
Comment by Jack Klompus on 4/16 @ 4:56 pm #
I worked with a rich urban socialist with a million dollar art collection and various properties held in a number of cities. He teaches religious studies at a Catholic prep school and has been using his classroom as a soapbox for his crudely formed leftist beliefs masked in Catholic Worker inspired theology for several decades. He sucks up to black students in this nauseating attempt to “be down” like he’s part of some kind of Eldrige Cleaver-esque “struggle.” I hear him refer to J.C. Watts one time as an “Uncle Tom.”
Any and every opportunity there ever was to make some under the table money he was first in line. Sold tickets at every sporting event, chaperoned the mixers by sitting at the door and reading a newspaper the whole time, took his cash and left. He admitted to waking up early to read his neighbor’s paper then putting it back before they woke up. He proudly never tipped anyone.
I didn’t get along too well with this guy.
Comment by cranky-d on 4/16 @ 5:03 pm #
About 5 lbs? No idea.
Comment by Lank Bodkins on 4/16 @ 5:27 pm #
Al Franken was a lame comedian, so he’ll fit right into the political scene in DC.
Comment by Elroy Jetson on 4/16 @ 5:27 pm #
I’m going to check and see if Al did any business here in Alaska. He probably owes us too. Al “Non-Compliance” Franken. What a maroon.
Comment by Carl H. on 4/16 @ 5:32 pm #
No problem. That was during the Al Franken No-Tax decade, which followed the regular Al Franken decade like the final Circus paradeworker with a pooperscooper.
Which is just another reason why I think of Al Franken as mucho poop-o.
Comment by MarkJ on 4/16 @ 5:32 pm #
Yeah, it’s mystery how Al Franken conveniently forgot to his taxes. However, for me, the even bigger mystery is how “Mr. Congeniality” managed to talk major, serious talents like Laura San Giacomo and Vincent D’Onofrio into helping him make that steaming pile of SNL-induced cows*** called “Stuart Saves His Family.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114571/
Comment by Ziggy on 4/16 @ 5:33 pm #
Henwat is like a piecost???? The same but different?????
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 4/16 @ 5:35 pm #
What’s a Grecian urn?
Is the answer different if he’s weighing the hen?
Comment by Alec Leamas on 4/16 @ 5:47 pm #
You see, it was an evil corporation TM, and not Franken, which didn’t pay its taxes.
Like the SUVs that drive themselves into people/places/things.
Comment by DirtCrashr on 4/16 @ 5:55 pm #
Does this mean (hopefully) that’s he’s gonna move his head-office and production offshore? Please??
Comment by happyfeet on 4/16 @ 5:57 pm #
Who’s not a big, fat corporate tax deadbeat is Jeff. He was here for a couple days and now he’s very quiet again. I haven’t been to that Bushido place. I really hate this ponce. He was talking about MMA this morning and I didn’t like his tone. I thought Jeff would rather not like his tone either, so I thought I’d share. Maybe someone already mentioned it. I’m kind of in catchup mode here at the office. But there’s that.
Comment by Enoch_Root on 4/16 @ 6:30 pm #
happyfeet –> SLACKER
Comment by happyfeet on 4/16 @ 6:36 pm #
Don’t tell. I think they’re catching on though.
Pingback by Al Franken favors lower taxes for Al Franken « Internet Scofflaw on 4/16 @ 6:42 pm #
[...] favors lower taxes for Al Franken Al Franken, the Democratic Senate candidate from Minnesota, failed to pay corporate income taxes from 2003 to 2007. (Via Instapundit.) I find it interesting that when it came out that he failed to pay his [...]
Comment by datadave on 4/16 @ 7:18 pm #
Franken’s always funny esp. his landmark book: the unmaking n making of a President
I guess you heard of it as you quoted it.
why is it that when Republicans cheat on their taxes the media just rolls over and ignores it?
hf…. you’re really a NPR salesman aren’t you? Frank Deford’s been their a long time. Jeff could be running for a mayorship soon: e.g.Today Kyiv, tomorrow New York City?
Comment by Otto Von Toot on 4/16 @ 7:23 pm #
And dammit, people like me!
Comment by Alec Leamas on 4/16 @ 8:26 pm #
“why is it that when Republicans cheat on their taxes the media just rolls over and ignores it?”
Take your analysis of the disparate treatment of Larry Craig and Jim McGreevy. Replace “gay sex” with “taxes.” Invert the parties. Cogitate to the degree that this is possible for you.
Also, of whom do you speak - Republicans, I mean?
Comment by Bildo on 4/16 @ 8:48 pm #
3 or 4 pounds.
Comment by The Dude on 4/16 @ 9:39 pm #
“Do As I Say Not As I Do”  AL Franken
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/montywade/truecharity.jpg
Pingback by Autorantic Moonbat Machine and Democratic Debate Reaction | conservativeintelligencer.com on 4/16 @ 9:48 pm #
[...] not good enough or smart enough to pay taxes and doggone it, the IRS doesn’t like him. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web [...]
Comment by JorgXMcKie on 4/16 @ 9:49 pm #
Maybe Franken can rip off a Minnesota Boys/Girls Club for the money to pay his evaded corporate taxes. He has the experience necessary.
Comment by datadave on 4/17 @ 4:10 am #
Despite his prodigious talents I have to remind myself that Franken was a moderate New Democrat in the Bill Clinton category. He’s not ‘hard-Left’ in the least.
But with his investigations into how things are he is getting less enamored of the corporate way of doing things. (not paying taxes is my Republican’s boss way of doing things, but then his brother is an undercover cop so I can’t complain unless I have a better job lined up…)
Comment by datadave on 4/17 @ 4:21 am #
Oh, I forgot Blackwater. Doesn’t pay employee’s taxes…calls them “independent contractors” (by IRS rules…one can’t work for a single employer all year and still be an independent contractor amongst other rules..but that’s ignored by the underfunded govt. investigators (with Republican leaders having gutted the govt’s enforcements) and left to private employer’s discretion (as is hiring undocumented immigrants except for rare and recent crackdowns//)(it’s the wink and nod system) …
(but not much media discussion of that is there? ) “Independent Contractors” (otherwise a “shadow economy” right out there in the open). Most of us “independent contractors” have to chisel on our taxes to be able to afford them…and eschew health insurance.
Comment by Rusty on 4/17 @ 4:38 am #
why is it that when Republicans cheat on their taxes the media just rolls over and ignores it?
Nope. Try again comrade.
Comment by Rusty on 4/17 @ 4:41 am #
#29
When stationed overseas, as a private contractor employee, the first $125,000 is tax free. It isn’t my fault you’re stupid. Try another career. Bye.
Comment by datadave on 4/17 @ 5:22 am #
“the first $125,000 is tax free”
who says and why?
Comment by JD on 4/17 @ 5:46 am #
Who says? The IRS
Comment by McGehee on 4/17 @ 6:02 am #
That would be the tax code.
Comment by Smirky McChimp on 4/17 @ 6:17 am #
So, that’s how many non-tax-paying Republicans Datadave has given us? None, right?
I was about to say, if I’d known GOP membership was that kind of a boon, I’d have stopped filing long ago.
Comment by B Moe on 4/17 @ 6:32 am #
Oh, I forgot Blackwater. Doesn’t pay employee’s taxes…calls them “independent contractorsâ€Â
I thought you were in the construction trade, dd. Are you really that ignorant of what a common practice this is? And you need to change that to doesn’t collect employee’s taxes to be accurate, even though I doubt you comprehend the difference.
Comment by EricTheRed on 4/17 @ 11:57 am #
Just playing play devil’s advocate here: The Minn. S-T article does say: “[Franken's] mistake isn’t uncommon, [spokesman for the state Franchise Tax Board John] Barrett said. Many business owners don’t understand the need to dissolve a corporation before walking away from it, he said.”
So I wonder how much penalty $ the state of California has siphoned from unsuspecting business owners due to this evidently obscure rule …
http://VocalMinority.TypePad.com
Jewish AND Republican?? Oy gevalt!
Comment by DirtCrashr on 4/17 @ 11:59 am #
Some people prefer to be independent contractors in the career field they’ve chosen, rather than golden-handcuffed or tenured wage-slaves. Being independent is like owning your own Liberty - no Employee Handbooks and HR guidelines.
Trackback by Vocal Minority on 4/17 @ 12:21 pm #
Liberal Hypocrisy: Al Franken
Doggonit! Yesterday’s Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune reported: DFL [= Democrat-Farmer-Labor. I had to look that up - ETR] U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken owes $5,800 to the state of California after failing to file state income tax returns for his…
Comment by datadave on 4/18 @ 4:36 am #
dirtcrasher, as a long time ‘free-lancer’ I know what of you mean…but it’s becoming involuntary in many situations. Business is giving a free ride in calling people ‘free agents’ in order to avoid employment taxes: social security(half), Medicare (half), unemployment (full), and workman’s comp. (full). These are the taxes employers pay by using ‘contract labor’ and the approx. 25 per cent is falling on the “employee’s” shoulders and so-called contract labor isn’t being compensated to that degree. It’s a modern version of indentured labor. The advantage to the subcontractor is the many deductions (mostly not ‘legal’ btw) we take. I pretty much just pay what I can afford and find deductions to make it work (and I’ve been audited and know the ropes).
To whom reading comprehension is a challenge, I mentioned my Republican ‘boss’ and his ‘clients’ mostly Republican, they cheat on taxes on a regular basis …esp. when they have an ‘employee’ sign a w-4 and then switch and not pay employment taxes…and send instead a 1099 at tax time…calling it ‘contract labor’. I admit complicity as a better paying job wasn’t easy to get and I just add a few hours as “tax monies” to compensate but tax time was much worse having to pay full freight on social security and having no security if unemployed (like I missed 2 and half monthes already due to slowness in the economy….this winter)
the tax code is written often by ’special interests’ not for the overall public good.
Comment by O Bloody Hell on 4/20 @ 11:13 am #
> Does this mean (hopefully) that’s he’s gonna move his head-office and production offshore?
Before he can move his head office I think he has to get his head unstuck from its current location. That, I think, will require major surgery. Preferably the exceedingly painful and expensive kind.
> Don’t tell. I think they’re catching on though.
Boy, aren’t you the idealistic fool. Hillary’s been dodging taxes for decades, and she just bloviated about how no one with money asked Bush for his tax cuts. Yeah, the rich all hate his guts for doing something so unnecessary. Mmmm-hmmmm.
For any Lefty to “catch on” would require them to have a functioning cluemeter and bogon flux meter, and these two devices have long been eradicated from the Lefty Allowed Inventory.
Comment by O Bloody Hell on 4/20 @ 11:24 am #
> And you need to change that to doesn’t collect employee’s taxes to be accurate
Well, I’d assume that, in the theoretical sense, he’s thinking in terms of the half of SS tax that nominally gets paid for regular workers by the employer, but isn’t paid in the case of independent contractors. Yes, it’s taken out of the wages which otherwise might be given to the employee to put into their own private pension system which would earn a reasonable interest rate, but that’s a depth of actual analysis and understanding on a secondary level which few Lefties are actually capable of.
A functional SS system would require a percentage of a person’s income be placed into a retirement fund with certain rules applied to encourage it to be available on retirement, supplanting this BS Ponzi scheme of an SS which Americans get dragooned into, and which would be blatantly illegal in most countries if it weren’t being operated by a government entity.
Pingback by Al Franken is a bigger, fatter tax deadbeat [Karl] on 4/29 @ 5:38 pm #
[...] a prior post, Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states, where he earned [...]
Pingback by Al Franken is a bigger, fatter tax deadbeat [Karl] on 4/29 @ 5:38 pm #
[...] a prior post, Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states, where he earned [...]
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