Palin Ordered To Pay Back Taxes
This post was written by Igor Kossov.
Alaska officials on Wednesday ruled that Alaska governor and former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin must pay back taxes to the IRS.
The exact amount the governor must pay is not yet known, but the Associated Press estimates she owes taxes on more than $17,000 in per-diem expenses.
State employees who live more than 50 miles away from Alaska's capital, Juneau, are entitled to state aid in the form of per-diem payments. Juneau is approximately 600 miles from Palin's home town of Wasilla, making the governor eligible for the payments.
But before she accepted the vice presidential nomination, Palin charged the state for over 300 nights spent in her Wasilla home, not the governor's mansion in Juneau. Her expenses usually amounted to $60 per day.
On Wednesday, Alaska state officials decided that the per-diem expenses should be counted as taxable income. Palin's spokesman, Bill McAllister, said the governor would pay the taxes.