What would Franken say?
Wouldn’t you think the first qualification for being in charge of all those federal tax dollars might be an ability to manage your own tax bill?
DFL U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken, frontrunner in the race to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, owes $70,000 in back taxes in 17 states, where he earned income going back to 2003.
Franken on Tuesday told the Associated Press that he never intended to avoid paying taxes and that on the advice of his accountant, had paid taxes to the city and state where he lived.
That’s on top of the $25k he owes New York in penalties, and it’s unclear if this late admission includes the $5k in California. Franken was also involved with Air America when it an took an $800,000 “loan” from an inner-city charity.
One can only imagine what Al Franken, satirist, might have to say about a former bomb-thrower politician who ignored his tax debt, employees, and was a party to taking money from underprivileged children. If only it wasn’t happening to…Al Franken.
UPDATE: “No one likes being called a liar,” says Franken, author of “Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them).”