New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has taken a lot of abuse in recent weeks--for his hastily-dropped plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens, his quickly-withdrawn plan to tax internet purchases, and his move to speed-up release for violent criminals.
But if Spitzer is to have any prayer of winning a second term, he needs to correct this mistake very quickly. Spitzer's Division of Tax Appeals says New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter owes millions in back taxes:
Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, known for making the rounds at the city's hot spots, is on the hot seat with New York State, which says he owes back taxes because he claimed he lived in Florida when he was really a resident of the Big Apple...
"What the state is saying is that he's a New Yorker at heart and because he has some important things here in his apartment, even if he's here only 30 days, he's a New Yorker," said John Lieberman, a certified public accountant with the firm Perelson Weiner in New York City, which advises athletes and entertainers.
"New York State is phenomenally aggressive on this kind of thing and Derek Jeter - I think they're making a test case out of it for athletes, actors and CEOs, people with multiple residences," Lieberman said.
New Yorkers are sophisticated enough to recognize that the city's confiscatory tax rates encourage athletes and entertainers not to make their permanent residences there. And if Jeter asserts that he intends to reside permanently in Florida once he's retired from baseball, what New Yorker will hold that against him? After all, that's a New York cliche.
It's hard to believe Spitzer would go against a New York icon like this one without carefully considering the ramifications. Does he really want to start a war against the most popular figure in New York sports in the midst of a massive retreat on licenses for illegals and internet taxes?
