Advertisement

Jobless man owes $400 million in taxes

Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- New Jersey officials say a man who hasn't lived in the state since 2001 owes $400 million in taxes, despite not being able to buy dinner at McDonald's.

Darren Goodman, 33, tops the list of New Jersey's tax scofflaws, New York's Daily News reported Thursday.

Advertisement

Though New Jersey treasury officials say the $400 million tax bill is for real, Goodman says it's a mistake resulting from his failed attempt to be a stock market day-trader a decade ago in Jersey City. Goodman said he failed to file tax returns for several years and pay several thousand dollars in tax fines after he went bankrupt in 2003. He is unemployed and living with his parents in Raleigh, N.C.

Goodman told the Daily News he learned of the $400 million tax bill last week when his debit card came up empty at a McDonald's -- New Jersey had put a lien on the $1,800 in Goodman's bank account.

New Jersey based it's claim on information from the Internal Revenue Service, said state Treasury spokesman Tom Vincz, suggesting Goodman may be crying poor to avoid paying the $400 million.

Advertisement

Goodman, however, said told the newspaper he would have to be worth billions to pay the bill.

Latest Headlines