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Nov 13, 2007 10:47 am US/Central
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Minnesota Goes After Low-Buck Tax Evaders
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
Minnesota authorities are cracking down on taxpayers who dodge income taxes, even when the amounts of money at stake are small.
Case in point: Michael J. Segal, who failed to pay taxes on income of less than $20,000 a year.
Segal faces a gross misdemeanor charge -- punishable with up to a year in prison and up to a $3,000 fine -- for not filing personal income tax returns from 2002 to 2005. The Minnesota Department of Revenue said he earned $66,051 during that four-year period.
It's unclear how much Segal, 51, owes in back taxes. The amount could range from nothing to $3,500, depending on deductions and exemptions.
Apple Valley City Attorney Michael Molenda said Segal is a musician "of some sort" who moved away from his Apple Valley address. It's the first tax evasion case Apple Valley has seen in at least a quarter century.
A working telephone number for Segal could not be found on Tuesday.
Revenue Department spokesman Mike Teegardin said the agency takes even modest cases seriously.
Some 21,359 tax evaders got notification letters from the Revenue Department during the year ended Oct. 1. They owed an average of $5,200 in taxes and penalties.
Few such cases lead to criminal charges and even when they do, penalties tend to be mild.
Tax evader Lauren Bitzan of Eagan got four months in jail and 100 hours of community service for failing to file individual tax returns from 2000 to 2003 or pay $35,394 in corporate sales taxes. At least 20 Minnesotans faced felony tax evasion charges this year, and fewer were charged with gross misdemeanors, Teegardin said.
Attention tends to flow to wealthier tax cheats, such as Robert Beale, a technology executive nabbed by federal marshals in Florida earlier this month. Beale dodged state and federal taxes on an estimated $5.6 million in personal income.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)