Taxes and Guns

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 Georgia lawmaker said Thursday.

Rep. John Lewis, the Democratic 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.”

The House Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight discovered the unpaid taxes in a review of tax records from 23 of the firms receiving the most money, Lewis said as he opened a hearing on the issue.

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.

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories//2009/03/20/bailout_back_taxes.html