It's nearly time for Sarah Palin to cough up the money she owes the state for her children's travel. The ethics complaint filed by Frank Gwartney last October wasn't frivolous after all!
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has until June 23 to reimburse the state for an estimated $10,000 in costs associated with trips taken by her children, under an agreement resolving an ethics complaint against her. The board found no wrongdoing on Palin's part. (as usual)
There were 72 trips and Sarah Palin will reimburse the state for 10 of them.
That's between her and the state of Alaska.
What I would like to know is how the IRS regard these trips. I have seen the Palin's tax return for 2008 but can't find the link anymore. I don't remember seeing any money for travel by her family members listed as income in there. There's no mention of travel on the 2007 document either.
Sarah Palin had to amend her tax returns and pay tax on her per diems. Did she pay tax on the family travel as well?
If she had to pay tax on her own per diems as a legitimate state official, I would expect the family travel to be even more taxable as they hold no official position in the Alaska government.
I re-read all the ADN articles related to both the per diems and the family travel but couldn't find any questions about tax on the latter. All I could find was that she was completely innocent of any wrongdoing, but being a good girl she decided to pay the state back for some of the travel out of the goodness of her heart.
In an article dated October 5, 2008, Jack Bogdanski discusses this very subject:
There is no question whatsoever that the payments for the Palin children's travel -- $24,728.83 -- were indeed taxable to Governor Palin. The money paid for Todd Palin's travel -- $18,761.37 -- might possibly turn out to be tax-free, but it would be quite a stretch. And the per diems and other travel payments to the governor herself ($16,951) may or may not be taxable, but certainly not because state law or the state payroll office says so.
(More on this from TaxProf)
What's Sarah Palin's tax liability, then? Certainly not on the $10,000 she's giving back because she did nothing wrong, but what about all the other children's trips and Todd's travel during her time in office?
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8 comments:
I've been wondering this myself; where's the IRS? You know she pushed through a "compromise" that didn't require her to pay back everything she should--it's just a fraction. That might be okay with the state of Alaska, which she rules like a fiefdom, but it shouldn't be okay with the "feds."
After all the crowing by the Palinbots about her getting the "frivolous" ethics complaints dismissed, I would LOVE to see the "feds" get her. But I worry she's one of those people--like Cheney--who sold her soul to the devil and thus leads a charmed life.
I am 'this' close to just not reading about her any more. Nothing is going to happen to her in Alaska. I live in a small town (which is how Alaska describes itself) and the people who are in business, who run the town, just keep cutting each other deals and scratching backs and the goal is to keep things just as they are with the locals running the show. Even if she runs for national office and is shredded (from my lips to some deity's ears), tv will snap her up and she'll snark at us all the way to the bank. The only hope I see is the IRS. Even if the Justice Department has something serious on her, the President will not support its investigation of her because of the negative backlash such an investigation would cause. I believe there has been a 'power' behind Palin from the start. I don't know who or what it is, but she's just the front for it.
She wasn't innocent, they cut a deal. The IRS doesn't cut deals. She may have paid back taxes on the travel but it's been kept quiet not to spoil her "innocence".
The attorney who investigated travelgate hasn't been hired by GINO's "Personal" Board since. All the complaints that have been dismissed were investigated by other attorneys.
The "Feds" got Al Capone for tax evasion in the end. If they got Scarface, they'll get Mooseface if she hasn't paid up.
You betcha!
I'm trying to do the math. 72 trips in around 2 years works on to a road trip every week and a half?? Or do they count it as one for Todd, one for Willow, one for Bristol, and so on??
In regard to the montage of scary lip pictures, I'm going to request an enlargement (as if the pictures aren't scary enough already). In some of them, there is a puffy line just below her lip. It could be a recent tattoo job that hasn't healed, a trick of the camera since her lipstick goes below the lip line, something creepy. Or, she's already done some damage to her skin. Also, if you could check out some eye and eyebrow pictures-- I think that they may be tattoo jobs too???
PS Thanks, Regina, for all that you do!
The Travel-gate is obviously fraud, on the same scale as that of reports of job-related credit cards being used for personal purchases.
The supposedly naive, or those trying out the handiest excuse, attempt to absolve themselves by saying they'd intended to reimburse the government/their employer before the next billing cycle.
There have been no excuses, no logical reasons given, no naivete demonstrated by the Palin family in Travel-gate. Just an unabashed "you elected me, I deserve to have my family travel with me" blatant dare to her critics.
She wouldn't have paid the money back unless someone demanded it from her ("I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't").
And of course, she's been able to wait until the last minute, garnering all that interest from the SarahPAC/AFT money her duped followers have sent her, before grudgingly giving up the $10,000.
Probably on the afternoon of the day it's due.
Anonymous@17:11,
I've made the lips pic bigger. If you click on it it will show it in full size.
KaJo,
They're not naive, they used one of the biggest firms in the country to prepare their tax returns... H&R Block.
Reg
Paying back travel expenses no problem for GINO, she'll just take the $10,000 out of her legal defense fund (if she has that much in it) with no questions asked. IRS where are you?????
I scratch my head and wonder why Palin is not held accountable for much of anything? She "owes" 10K for her children's travel expenses that were not ethical. Period. An ethics complaint was filed. Oh, but wait now, then an "agreement" is reached with a wink and a slap on the wrist to reimburse the state for those 10 trips. Then the ethics complaint was found to be invalid and summarily dismissed.
I am still scratching my head in amazement. What kind of alternate universe is operating up there with Palin and her posse? Very strange indeed.
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