Posted by
Lady Logician on Friday, May 02, 2008 5:53:55 PM
Thanks to the commenters at Hot Air for this....
As you know, Al Franken has thrown his accountant (Allen Chanzis) under the bus for his tax problems, saying that Chanzis had advised him to not pay these other states taxes. Well come to find out, Chanzis is no ordinary CPA. Chanzis is a partner in the firm Wlodinguer, Erk & Chanzis- a firm that SPECIALIZES in Entertainment industry accounting! From Chanzis bio...
Allen Chanzis
Responsible for Business Management and has a unique expertise in all aspects of Tour Accounting and reporting. He also has extensive experience in our tax practice as well as royalty audit, computer and administration areas. Mr. Chanzis has the main responsibility for the Administration of our firms affairs.
Emphasis mine.
Now does this sound like someone who would make such a "
rookie mistake"
as to advise a client not to pay income taxes made while on tour? Remember...that is Franken's story...that his accountant gave him incorrect advice.
"We paid taxes on every cent of income we ever had," Franken told AP. "What happened is our accountant made a mistake, and all of these are repercussions of that same mistake. His mistake was not understanding the law, the obligation to pay these state taxes." Following his accountant's advice, he said, he and his wife, Franni, paid their entire income tax bill to the city and state where they were living at the time.
Emphasis again mine. I would speculate that this expertise is the reason why Chanzis told the Star Tribune that he was instructed to say "no comment" if asked about Franken's tax woes.
"I've been told to say, 'No comment,'" Chanzis said, without saying who had instructed him to do so. Refusing to discuss any mistakes, he added: "I've been told you have the information you need."
Emphasis once again mine. I've been told to say"no comment". Those words were very deliberately chosen....that is not an off the cuff answer. This man knows the whole truth but has been instructed not to say what it is!
As many have said...Franken needs to come clean and he needs to come clean FAST. The DFL nominating convention is a little over one month away (June 7). Thirty days is an eternity during an election. The sooner this issue is completely addressed, the sooner the candidate can start to distance himself from it. Today is the day Al - it's a slow news day and you know that the local press will bury it for you. Get it all out now!