More Dishonesty From The NY Statehouse: IRS Steps In

NY State Legislators are notorious for dipping their hands in the taxpayers cookie jar. Usually it works by writing favors into law and giving government contracts to their friends favorite donors. Now it seems that our representatives up in Albany are trying to short the state by taking inappropriate tax deductions on their income.

Apparently a $79,500 base salary is not enough for them while they work a few months out of the year. Technically they can take deductions for business expenses for up to 122 days, in reality deductions are being taken for well over 200 days.

From the NY Post:

ALBANY - State lawmakers could be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars each in back taxes for wrongly claiming deductions related to their job, sources said.

In a letter that has sent shivers through the entire Legislature, the IRS recently formally alerted lawmakers of the problem.

Lawmakers were given 45 days to review their 2004 and 2005 returns and repay any amounts owed without penalty.

Under federal law, legislators are able to take a deduction for "ordinary and necessary business expenses" each day while away from home for the legislative session.

Technically, the Legislature gavels into session each day whether lawmakers convene or not.