Business Notes Taxes

Is one of the perks of being a taxman that you do not have to pay taxes? Some officials of New York's taxation and finance department, the state agency charged with hunting down tax evaders, seemed to think so. Only four weeks after Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo announced a get-tough program on tax cheating, a crime that Cuomo said costs his state about $1 billion a year, an internal investigation disclosed that at least 69 of the 5,100 employees of the agency had not filed state income tax forms for periods of as long as five years. In New York State, failure to file a return for three consecutive years constitutes attempted tax evasion. Explained Tax and Finance Spokesman Karl Felsen: "To be fair, we had to get our own house in order."

Using the department's giant IBM and Sperry computers, the tax bureau investigators simply compared paychecks issued to employees with the state's list of tax filers. The department has referred all violators to the local district attorney's office for prosecution. So far, none have been dismissed from their jobs. The 69 face a maximum fine of $5,000 and penalties of up to 75% of back taxes owed plus interest.