By AP/KWMU
Springfield, Ill. – The wife and children of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich have taken nearly 300 flights on taxpayer-financed airplanes.
If the IRS considers some of the flights personal, they could be taxed as fringe benefits.
Overall, it could mean $225,000 in extra taxable income for the governor.
However an analysis by the Associated Press counted most of Patricia Blagojevich's flights as business-related because taxpayers might expect her to appear at some events.
And it allowed most flights by daughters Amy and Annie, even though a tax attorney says the IRS almost never allows tax-free flights by children.
Blagojevich's office says flights by Patricia, Amy and Annie Blagojevich are business-related in their capacity as members of the state's first family.