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California State Senators Tax Scofflaws

Below is a letter to Attorney General Jerry Brown alerting to facts that clearly indicate that state senators are now and have more many years failed to report and/or pay federal and state income tax on the personal income they realized from personal use of state cars and fuel in accordance with the mandates contained in IRS Publication 15-B.

 

 

                Dave Palmer
                 The Watchdawg
          Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
            URL: www.noethics.net
                 Folsom, California
                  July 20, 2009
 
Mr. Jerry Brown
California Attorney General
 
Re:      Legislative Tax Avoidance/Fraud
 
Dear Mr. Brown:
 
IRS Publication 15-B (www.ir.sgov/publications/p15b/ar02.html) treats employer provided vehicles (governmental or otherwise) as a fringe benefit. As a result, the IRS mandates that the following records be maintained by the employer and/or that income derived from the personal use of an employer-provided vehicle be reported.
  1.       Commuting/personal use are considered taxable income
  2.       Lease Value Rule to be used if government employee is elected official
  3.       Logs differentiating personal vs. official use must be kept
  4.       Income earned from personal use of vehicle to be reported on annual W-2
Lease Value Rule/Method
 
The Fair Market Value (FMV) is determined by the amount an employee (legislator) would have to pay to a third party in an arms-length transaction to buy or lease the benefit. The arms-length lease values as determined by the IRS as to tax liability requires that the annual cost of fuel be added to the lease value of the vehicle.
 
Unbelievably, a spokesman for the Senate Rules Committee recently opined to a reporter that since state legislators pay a minimum of 10% of the monthly lease cost ($35 to $45) that this fact standing along vests them with an ownership interest in the vehicle in question. With all due respect to this spokesperson, I would suggest that in the future when he is purchasing recreational drugs that, he avoid buying them from entrepreneurs that accept “double-off” coupons. This comment is beyond farcical in that the 10% is paid from state-funded budgets provided to legislators.
 
Of course I suspect that the vast majority of Californians (yourself included) that are required to fund this obscenity would be more than happy to pay $35 or even $45 a month to lease a fully-loaded Lincoln Navigator, Ford Saleen, Cadillac CTX, Ford Mach 1 or a Camaro Z28 convertible that comes along with unlimited fuel, fully paid insurance and maintenance/repairs costs.
 
Test Boxes 1 (Districts 1 to 20) and 2 (Districts 21 to 40) below sets forth the potential tax liabilities facing state senators, which are as follows:
  •       $920,456 = potential federal tax liability
  •       $275,573 = potential state tax liability
  •       $420,000 = estimated interest and penalties
  •       $1,614,089 = total federal/state tax liability +interest and penalties
Following Text Boxes 1 and 2 are fifty-eight (58) additional text boxes that provide further detail regarding this matter, which are listed by District beginning with District 1 and ending with District 40 (pages 4-19).  
 
                                    Text Box 1
                 Senate Members – Districts 1 to 20
 
Name
District
Federal
State
Total
Rico Oller
1st - Roseville
$13,248
$3,974
$17,222
Pat Wiggins
2nd – Santa Rosa
$ 5,227
$1,568
$ 6,795
Wesley Chesbro
2nd – Santa Rosa
$12,008
$3,602
$15,610
Carole Migden
3rd – Frisco
$19,932
$4,923
$24,855
John Burton
3rd – Frisco
$ 5,368
$1,611
$ 6,979
Sam Aanestad
4th – Grass Valley
$33,505
$8,878
$42,383
Michael Machado
5th - Davis
$31,400
$9,420
$40,820
Darrel Steinberg
6th - Sacramento
$ 5,284
$1,585
$ 6,869
Deborah Ortiz
6th - Sacramento
$19,606
$5,882
$25,488
Tom Torlakson
7th – Antioch
$24,763
$7,429
$32,192
Leland Yee
8th – San Mateo
$11,065
$3,052
$14,177
Jackie Speier
8th – San Mateo
$18,610
$5,583
$24,193
Don Perata
9th – Oakland
$28,203
$8,628
$36,831
Ellen Corbett
10th – San Leandro
$ 7,058
$2,117
$ 9,175
Liz Figueroa
10th – San Leandro
$13,280
$3,984
$17,264
Joe Simitian
11th – Santa Cruz
$13,953
$4,186
$18,139
Byron Sher
11th – Santa Cruz
$ 6,975
$2,092
$ 9,067
Jeff Denham
12th – Frisco
$29,046
$8,397
$37,443
Elaine Alquist
13th – San Jose
$10,240
$3,072
$13,312
John Vasconcellos
13th – San Jose
$8,182
$2,454
$10,636
Dave Cogdill
14th – San Diego
$ 8,634
$2,592
$11,226
Chuck Poochigian
14th – San Diego
$17,032
$5,110
$22,142
Abel Maldonado
15th – Santa Maria
$12,954
$3,863
$16,817
Bruce McPherson
15th – Santa Maria
$15,361
$4,608
$19,969
Dean Florez
16th – Long Beach
$31,887
$9,564
$41,451
George Runner
17th – Lancaster
$15,678
$4,703
$20,381
William Knight
17th – Lancaster
$10,866
$3,258
$14,124
Roy Ashburn
18th – San Diego
$30,486
$9,146
$39,632
Tom McClintock
19th – 1000 Oaks
$12,214
$3,664
$15,878
Alex Padilla
20th – Van Nuys
$ 6,959
$2,088
$ 9,047
Richard Alarcon
20th – Van Nuys
$ 8,566
$2,570
$11,136
 
 
$487,590
$143,603
$631,253

 

 

                                                      Text Box 2

                              Senate Members – Districts 21 to 40

 

Name
District
Federal
State
Total
Jack Scott
21st – Los Angeles
$22,686
$ 6,806
$29,492
Gil Cedillo
22nd – Los Angeles
$23,799
$ 7,140
$30,939
Gloria Romero
24th – Los Angeles
$23,607
$ 7,091
$30,698
Eddie Vincent
25th – Los Angeles
$27,170
$ 8,151
$35,321
Mark Ridley-Thomas
26th – Los Angeles
$ 7,654
$ 2,296
$ 9,950
Kevin Murray
26th – Los Angeles
$25,084
$ 7,525
$32,609
Alan Lowenthal
27th – Los Angeles
$12,503
$ 3,751
$16,254
Betty Karnette
27th – Los Angeles
$ 9,445
$ 2,833
$12,278
Jenny Oropeza
28th – Long Beach
$ 6,199
$ 1,857
$ 8,056
Debra Bowen
28th – Long Beach
$12,676
$ 3,803
$16,479
Bob Margett
29th – Glendora
$28,148
$ 8,445
$36,593
Ron Calderon
30th – Los Angeles
$10,805
$ 3,242
$14,047
Martha Escutia
30th – Los Angeles
$18,239
$ 5,475
$23,714
Bob Dutton
31st – Cucamonga
$17,351
$ 5,205
$22,556
James Brulte
31st – Cucamonga
$15,820
$ 4,746
$20,566
Gloria McLeod
32nd – Chino
$ 5,146
$ 1,544
$ 6,690
Nell Soto
32nd – Chino
$ 6,825
$ 2,047
$ 8,872
Dick Ackerman
33rd – Laguna Hills
$27,299
$ 8,190
$35,489
Lou Correa
34th – Santa Ana
$ 2,903
$     871
$ 3,774
Tom Harman
35th – Santa Barbara
$ 8,891
$ 2,667
$11,558
John Campbell
35th – Santa Barbara
$ 4,010
$ 1,203
$ 5,213
D. Hollingsworth
36th – Murrieta
$29,036
$ 8,711
$37,747
Jim Battin
37th – Palm Desert
$34,724
$10,417
$45,141
William Morrow
38th – Carlsbad
$12,616
$ 3,785
$16,401
Christine Kehoe
39th – San Diego
$11,822
$ 3,547
$15,639
Alpert Dede
39th – San Diego
$12,473
$ 3,742
$16,215
Denise Ducheny
40th – Chula Vista
$15,665
$ 4,880
$20,545
 
 
$432,866
$129,970
$562,836

 

 

 

 

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