13 Firms Receiving Bailout Owe Back Taxes

13 Firms Receiving Bailout Owe Back Taxes

news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON – At least 13 firms receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a key lawmaker said Thursday.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing the federal bailout, said two firms owe more than $100 million apiece.

"This is shameful. It is a disgrace," said Lewis. "We are going to get to the bottom of what is going on here."

(visit the link for the full news article)

The committee said it could not legally release the names of the companies owing taxes. It said one recipient had almost $113 million in unpaid federal income taxes from 2005 and 2006. A second recipient owed almost $102 million dating to before 2004. Another was behind $1.1 million in federal income taxes and $223,000 in federal employment taxes.

"If we looked at all 470 recipients, how much would they owe?" Lewis asked/

This is shameful and was fraud as they all signed papers before saying they owed no back taxes.

Banks and other firms receiving federal money were required to sign contracts stating they had no unpaid taxes, Lewis said. But he said the Treasury Department did not ask them to turn over their tax records.

Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, told the hearing that if an executive signed a contract knowing that information about unpaid taxes was false, "that would potentially be a crime." He said his office will look to see if crimes were committed.

If these companies had been individuals they would have had the Sheriff out after them long ago...

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

The best line is this one:

"This is shameful. It is a disgrace," said Lewis. "We are going to get to the bottom of what is going on here."

Yeah, and I'm spending next winter on Mars skiing Olympus Mons.

Didn't everyone get the memo? Laws only apply to us little people, the "huddled masses". If you have enough money and connections you get a packet with a new constitution and a new set of laws.