Long past time to pay the bill

The controller of the Palm Beach County Palm Beach County Convention and Visitor Bureau embezzled 1.6 million dollars over several years. Earlier this week Donna Duffer was sentenced to 10 years in prison. However the Convention and Visitor's Bureau still owes the IRS the money meant for payroll taxes that Duffer stole.

Then the workers learned they could be held personally responsible for the income taxes that Duffer failed to remit to the Internal Revenue Service, Stuber said.

"The board will do everything it can to pay the back taxes," he said. "But they can't help but be nervous."

By the end of August, the bureau will owe the IRS $487,411 in penalties, $158,465 in interest and $617,900 in back taxes. The bureau used $250,000 from one insurance policy to pay down some of the IRS debt. Another insurance company has refused to pay.

Mediation is scheduled for Aug. 24 with the insurance company and with an accounting firm that did not detect the theft during annual audits.

1- Now I could be wrong, but the IRS goes after the employer not the employee is liable for the taxes. So why do the employees feel threatened by the IRS? Its the CVB job to pay the bill.

2- Why doesn't the CVB pay the bill? The penalties and taxes are just going to continue accumulating. The CVB is not going to get away from making up for what Duffer did. The bureau's own incompetence is as much to blame as the controller's theft.

The Palm Beach Post editorialized on this news.

For the CVB, the suffering continues. By the end of August, as The Post reported Sunday, the bureau will owe the IRS $487,411 in penalties, $158,465 in interest and $617,900 in back taxes. The bureau acts as if the IRS will forgive penalties that have been accruing since Duffer pocketed the tax payments and falsified tax returns. The tourism bureau's $9 million budget is deep enough to allow Palm Beach County to take $400,000 from the CVB to offset cuts to cultural groups. Why hasn't the bureau retired its IRS debt and stopped the penalties? Like Duffer, the bureau has to take responsibility for its mistakes.

The Post and I are in one of our rare agreements. The new management at the CVB is also as incompetent as the old regime. When will the taxpayers stop footing the bill for their financial stupidity?

Linked to- Point Five, Stuck on Stupid, Webloggin, The World According to Carl,