Are Palin’s Per Diem Payments Taxable?

[EV_Ares]

The McCain campaign has said it will release Sarah Palin’s tax returns and when it does, tax attorneys will have their pencils sharp and ready to go over the numbers.

Several tax accounting blogs have raised the question: should Sarah Palin pay federal income taxes on the per-diem payments that she received from the state of Alaska for nights spent in her Wasilla, Alaska home?

Anthony C. Infanti, a professor of tax law at the University of Pittsburg law school, raised the issue in a blog called “Feminist Law Professors.” Mr. Infanti writes that if Governor Palin was not engaging in business while in Wasilla, but simply preferring to spend the nights there, then the per diem payments would be taxable income.

“If these are really just personal expenses paid by her employer, that sounds like taxable income to me,” Mr. Infanti wrote in his posting.

Ms. Palin received around $17,000 in per diem payments from the state for 312 nights she spent in her Wasilla home rather than the Governor’s mansion in her first 19 months in office. Per diem payments are a daily allowance to cover meals and lodging while on the state’s business.

rest of the article @ link: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/are-palins-per-diem-payments-taxable/

[donco6]

1. If they're not reimbursements, then yes.

And they should have been paid through payroll, not in a separate per diem check.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Well she's just all kinda cheaty.

[GoesTo11]

3. That depends. Is the IRS political like the Justice dept?