Lehman Brothers may be out of business and bankrupt, but that doesn't mean NYC can't demand over $600 million in underpaid taxes. The NY Times reports, "The Bloomberg administration has accused Lehman of shortchanging the city of $627 million in corporate and other taxes, beginning in 1996. It is now trying to convince federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan that the city should jump closer to the front of Lehman’s long line of creditors." Apparently Lehman, per the city's estimates, unpaid its corporation tax by $615 million and never paid commercial rent taxes of $12 million, which, prompts a lawyer representing some of Lehman's other creditors to ask: "How did the city get to the point where the city was looking at so many tax years, and so much money? It raises a lot of questions." (The city says it had been talking to Lehman about recouping the money and pointed out that audits can take a really long time!) more ›

With $2.5 billion in unpaid taxes owed to the state, State Senator Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) has introduced a bill that would post the names of tax scofflaws online. For instance, the Daily News reports that there's a "phone card company that owes more than $15 million" while "a Manhattan outfit that runs luxury yacht tours and owes $1.8 million." Klein says, "They're not paying their taxes, and hardworking people around the state of New York who are doing the right thing ...are getting hurt as a result." Assemblyman William Colton has also proposed a similar list—he'd like to list the "top 250 individual tax delinquents" and "top 250 business tax cheats." Maybe NYC should consider this idea. more ›

Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner is back in front of the Senate, his first appearance since revelations that he didn't pay $34,000 in taxes between 2001 and 2004, and he said it was "careless, and avoidable, but unintentional... I should have been more careful." The unpaid taxes were apparently due to Geithner's "freelance" work at the IMF, which did not take out money for taxes; Geithner was alerted to the oversight while the Obama transition team was vetting him last fall and he paid the taxes plus interest. At any rate, CNBC says Geithner is expected to be confirmed, "barring a major misstep at the hearing." And in his opening remarks, the day after Wall Street's big Inaugural Day egg, Geithner said, "Our test is to act with the strength, speed and care necessary to get our economy back on track." more ›

Senior in-house adviser to Governor Paterson Charles O'Byrne owed over $200,000 in unpaid taxes until settling recently with the government. His reasoning for not paying state or federal taxes from 2001 to 2005 while being employed by the state: depression. more ›