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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
LAST CALL?
By Rivkela Brodsky
Journal Staff Writer
If Garduño's doesn't pay up, its signature margaritas may become mocktails.
The company has seven days to clear up its back taxes with the state or its liquor license will be canceled.
The state Taxation and Revenue Department, which claims the company owes more than $750,000 in back taxes, has placed a hold on the company's liquor license renewal application.
The State Alcohol and Gaming Division confirmed Monday that Garduño's renewal application “is pending.”
Calls to Garduño's CEO Mike Calcaterra were not returned Tuesday, but he told the Journal in an interview last week that Garduños, owned by David Garduño, has been working with the department over the past six months to pay off its tax debt stemming from 2007 and 2008. He also said that the amount was less than half of the $750,739 in gross receipts taxes the state is demanding.
Liquor licenses expire June 30 and the division is not allowed to renew a liquor license until any holds are released, said Teala Kail, public information officer for the division. If a business fails to meet that deadline, by law it cannot continue to sell alcohol, she said.
The state Taxation and Revenue Department asked a court last week to stop Tortilla Inc., the parent company of Garduño's, from doing business if it doesn't pay its tax bill.
Taxation and Revenue Department Secretary Rick Homans told the Journal filing of an injunction “is a step of last resort.”
“We traditionally take a whole lot of steps prior to that in terms of working with the taxpayers, setting up payment plans, meeting with them to try to come up with a solution that is acceptable to the taxpayer and to us,” he said. “And especially in this time of economic hardship we are bending over backwards to give them (businesses in general) every chance we can.”
In court documents, the department said the company “is now, and has chronically been, a delinquent taxpayer....” In May, the state had requested a more than $1 million security to “ensure payment of tax due or reasonably expected to become due from you.”
Asked if Garduño's had made any progress on the issues, Homans said ask Garduños.
The company has 500 employees at its six locations in the state.
A court hearing on the tax issue has been set for July 16 at 1:30 p.m. in Santa Fe District Court.
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