Earlier today we wrote how the state of New York planned to sue Sprint for $300 million over alleged tax fraud. The Attorney General of the empire state accused Sprint of deliberately committing tax fraud by not collecting or paying millions of dollars in taxes for its service in the state. Well, The Now Network wasted no time in responding to NY’s attorney general, the company issued this statement:
“This complaint is without merit and Sprint categorically denies the complaint’s allegations. We have collected and paid over to New York every penny of sales taxes on mobile wireless services that we believe our customers owe under New York State law. With this lawsuit, the Attorney General’s office is claiming New York consumers, who already pay some of the highest wireless taxes in the country, should pay even more. We intend to stand up for New York consumers’ rights and fight this suit.”
The amount Sprint technically owns (according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman) is $100 million, but because of the “violation” Sprint will be penalized for three times the amount. Honestly, from the beginning this sounded and felt like a government overreach to extort money from a corporation that serves the people to aid a huge state deficit.
As always, we’ll keep you posted on the latest details.
[via The Verge]