Much is being made today about the fact that Al Franken, who is running to be the Democratic Party's nominee to challenge Norm Coleman in Minnesota's Senate race this fall, recently discovered he owes $70,000 in 17 states.
I can relate: this can be an honest mistake.
In 1994, I was serving as the St. Paul Saints' radio announcer. We opened the season in Winnipeg and then went to Sioux City for a series. In between, we had a rare day off on the road. In Iowa, most of the casinos are on boats. So it was here -- there was a casino on a boat basically across the street from our hotel.
There isn't a lot to do in Sioux City on a day off. So I went over to the boat and played around a bit. I ran across a game called Caribbean Stud Poker. On my second hand, I was dealt a straight flush (3-4-5-6-7 of diamonds). That earns you 10 per cent of whatever the total pot is. In this case, that meant I had won $5,300. (I would have won another $500 if the dealer had A-K or better. But who wants to be greedy?)
When this happens, the casino and the state take its cut immediately. So, after taxes, the final amount of the check was something like $3,500.
I never thought anything more of it until I was doing my taxes the next spring and my tax man told me that I had to file an Iowa state tax return. Seemed I had been overcharged and I was eligible for a $75 state refund from Iowa. Coincidentally, my tax man (my ex-tax man now) charged me $75 to fill out the form.
If Franken was really letting his accountant do the work -- and the guy was incompetent or simply lazy -- it is very possible he really didn't know he owed New Jersey $53 and Arizona $67.
It's a little late but Mr. Franken has learned a valuable lesson. The people who pay you for speeches or appearances probably aren't as thorough as casinos.
And what does that say about business in general?
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