Yeah … Not so much
Have a google look for “Can I deduct fines from my taxes” and the basic answer that You are likely to find is this:
Fines and penalties paid to any government entity are are never deductible.
Okay … well, that works for You and I … but, about that fine for Goldman Sachs? Um, not so much it turns out
NY Times has a brief story and analysis on this.
Here are a couple choice bits
Buried in the fine print are provisions that allow Goldman to pay hundreds of millions of dollars less — perhaps as much as $1 billion less …
the settlement calls for Goldman to spend $240 million on affordable housing ... the bank will have to pay at most only 30 percent of that money to fulfill the deal.
And from The New York Magazine article on the same deal:
Goldman pledges to spend $280 million for community reinvestment in New York, but the settlement's fine print stipulates that the bank will receive a $2 tax credit for every dollar it spends in that area.
And finally, I’ll finish off with this quote from the Times column:
“They appear to have grossly inflated the settlement amount for P.R. purposes to mislead the public, while in the fine print, enabling Goldman Sachs to pay 50 to 75 percent less,” said Dennis Kelleher, the founder of the advocacy organization Better Markets, referring to the government announcement.
I am guessing that Sammy might think of renaming his song to “I don’t have to drive 55 because I get to deduct the fines from my taxes”
That isn’t quite as catchy is it?