GaryMrMets
03-03-2003, 05:32 PM
Illinois Won't Give Sosa Credit for Taxes Paid Elsewhere
.c The Associated Press
CHICAGO (March 3) -- Sammy Sosa is suing the Illinois Department of Revenue over a $45,000 tax bill from 1998, saying he already paid taxes on the income in California and other states.
The Chicago Cubs star paid the amount demanded by Illinois -- $38,169 in taxes plus $8,814 in interest -- but sued the state in May. Illinois denied the credits he took for taxes paid in other states.
"If he wants to argue with someone, he ought to be going out to California and arguing with them,'' Illinois revenue department spokesman Mike Klemens said Monday.
Sosa's lawsuit is pending in Cook County Circuit Court, along with a companion action filed by former Chicago White Sox star Albert Belle, who was assessed an additional $90,000 in Illinois taxes.
"We are looking to challenge this because it is so fundamentally unfair,'' said Boston lawyer Stephen Kidder, who represents the Major League Baseball Players Association.
"Illinois taxes in an extraordinary fashion,'' Kidder said. "Illinois has a very special status in how it taxes professional athletes. I could not name for you another state in the country that would not allow a resident to claim credit for income taxes paid elsewhere.''
Illinois Assistant Attorney General Michael Coveny said the state tax collectors do not believe they have the authority to give Sosa credit for taxes paid in other states.
Sosa's charitable foundation also has filed petitions in U.S. Tax Court in Washington, D.C., complaining that the Internal Revenue Service was in error when it ruled that a clinic the foundation supports in Sosa's native Dominican Republic wasn't an acceptable charity.
03/03/03 13:30 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
.c The Associated Press
CHICAGO (March 3) -- Sammy Sosa is suing the Illinois Department of Revenue over a $45,000 tax bill from 1998, saying he already paid taxes on the income in California and other states.
The Chicago Cubs star paid the amount demanded by Illinois -- $38,169 in taxes plus $8,814 in interest -- but sued the state in May. Illinois denied the credits he took for taxes paid in other states.
"If he wants to argue with someone, he ought to be going out to California and arguing with them,'' Illinois revenue department spokesman Mike Klemens said Monday.
Sosa's lawsuit is pending in Cook County Circuit Court, along with a companion action filed by former Chicago White Sox star Albert Belle, who was assessed an additional $90,000 in Illinois taxes.
"We are looking to challenge this because it is so fundamentally unfair,'' said Boston lawyer Stephen Kidder, who represents the Major League Baseball Players Association.
"Illinois taxes in an extraordinary fashion,'' Kidder said. "Illinois has a very special status in how it taxes professional athletes. I could not name for you another state in the country that would not allow a resident to claim credit for income taxes paid elsewhere.''
Illinois Assistant Attorney General Michael Coveny said the state tax collectors do not believe they have the authority to give Sosa credit for taxes paid in other states.
Sosa's charitable foundation also has filed petitions in U.S. Tax Court in Washington, D.C., complaining that the Internal Revenue Service was in error when it ruled that a clinic the foundation supports in Sosa's native Dominican Republic wasn't an acceptable charity.
03/03/03 13:30 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.