http://www.electoral-vote.com/ Palins May Owe Tens of Thousands of Dollars in Back Taxes When Sarah Palin accepted John McCain's offer to be his running mate, she probably didn't fully realize what being in the national spotlight meant. For example, your tax returns get to be analyzed in public (for free) by miscellaneous tax experts. Gov. Palin actually lives in Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage, but the state capital is in Juneau, 500 miles away as the crow flies (assuming they have crows in Alaska). On the many nights she stayed at home, she claimed to have been away from the capital on business and was reimbursed $17,000 by the state for this "travel." Being paid a per diem for staying in your own home is ethically dicey but probably legal since "away on business" is probably defined as "not near your office." However, Palin was also paid $25,000 to reimburse her husband and children for being away from "home" (Juneau) which she did not list as income. A D.C. tax lawyer and two law school professors specializing in tax law have concluded that if the State of Alaska wants to pay the governor to take her family on "business trips" that is its good right, but the money received is taxable income under the internal revenue code and the Palins should have declared it and paid tax on it, which they did not.
State Employees will Testify in Troopergate The Alaska attorney general has reversed himself and announced that the seven state employees subpoenaed by retired prosecutor Steve Branchflower will testify in the Troopergate affair. Branchflower was hired by the Republican-controlled Alaska state legislature to investigate potential abuse-of-power charges against Gov. Sarah Palin in conjunction with her firing the state commissioner of public safety for refusing to dismiss her estranged brother-in-law. In addition, the state supreme court will hold a hearing tomorrow on a defense motion to throw the whole case out. Branchflower is trying to get his report out on Friday. If he concludes that Palin misused her power, it will be a huge bombshell. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
