Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Botax! | One way the White House and Senate Democrats plan to pay to overhaul the health care system? By imposing a five percent tax on cosmetic procedures like breast implants, face lifts, tummy tucks, and Botox. The provision, which is projected to raise $6 billion over the next 10 years, has plastic surgeons up in arms, not surprisingly. But considering a slightly disproportionate number of cosmetic surgery consumers are Republicans, it may be a clever political move for Democrats. Even if it wreaks havoc on Nancy Pelosi's personal budget in the process. [AP]

Whether or not hedge fund billionaire Julian Robertson was a resident of New York City way back in 2000 may seem like a trivial question. Unless, that is, you work for the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and you're arguing he did spend the majority of his time in NYC that year and you'd like to see him cough up the $27 million in city taxes he owes. More

When you set up that secret Swiss account of yours, you assumed that you could totally count on the bank to defend your privacy no matter what the cost, right? If it didn't, what else would Switzerland have to boast about, with the exception of solid skiing, pocket knives, and cough drops? It looks like the world's blandest nation will now have to come up with a new bullet point to add to its tourism brochures. And a trip to a Zurich bank vault will no longer be a staple of international crime capers.More

Dick Fuld Returns to the Glare | As if former Lehman chief Dick Fuld wasn't enough of a villain as it is given his role in the investment bank's collapse last fall, it turns out he was a tax cheat, too. The Times reports today that the Bloomberg administration is accusing Lehman of failing to pay the city some $627 million in taxes between 1996 and 2008.More

The Hot New Blacklist | If you missed out on the chance to brag to all your friends that you fell victim to a Ponzi scheme targeted to high net-worth individuals, you may still get to see your name appear on a list of really rich people who now find themselves in a world of trouble.More

The High Line opened to the public a couple of months ago. And it's a delight, isn't it? Unfortunately, it appears the park is a little too delightful since four times as many people have been stopping to visit than Friends of the High Line originally anticipated. And now maintenance costs have gone through the roof, so the group is now looking to tax local residents to make up the difference.More

Going Up: Everything | It's a good thing everyone is doing so well financially right now, because everything is about to get more expensive. The New York City Council endorsed a plan today to raise the city's share of the sales tax, and if the measure is eventually approved by Albany, 8.875 percent will be tacked on to your bills instead of the current 8.375 percent. Those fractions certainly do add up, though! The change is expected to pump an extra $500 million a year into city coffers. [NYT]

What do Donald Trump or Anderson Cooper know about taxes? Beats us, but for some reason the pair came up at the top of the list of "celebrities Americans feel most comfortable doing their taxes." The Donald came in first with 32 percent of the vote; Coop followed behind with 27 percent. That Trump came in first may be slightly surprising considering he has trouble keeping his own finances in order. Much less surprising? Paris Hilton came in dead last.

If you haven't done your taxes yet, Andy Spade would like you to know that he has a CPA who will take care of them for free, in the window of his new store, from 12 to 8pm today. If you haven't been playing by the rules, you may not want to have Steve Stojowski work on your taxes in plain view. And judging by the first line in red above, you may not want to have Spade's graphic designer handle any copy editing either.

Whatever You Have in Your Wallet Is About to Disappear | This is not a good day for wealthy New Yorkers who smoke and who also happen to rely exclusively on taxis to get around town. Gov. David Paterson is proposing temporarily raising tax rates on the state's highest earners, part of a plan to fill in a $18 billion budget gap; the single largest federal tobacco tax increase ever goes into effect today, raising the price of a pack to $10 in some places; and now state lawmakers are weighing a 50-cent surcharge on cab rides to prevent the MTA from having to raise fares. Enjoy! [NYP, Newsday, WSJ]

Leona Helmsley Now Paying Other People's Taxes | Every hotel has a gimmick these days, but the one the Helmsley Hotel is offering up may be the most morbid. In honor of tax season—and the late Leona Helmsley's famous aversion to paying them—the hotel is offering "tax-free" rooms, a promotion that shaves roughly $50 off the $250 room rate. No word on whether the hotel has other Leona-inspired specials in the works, although given all the trouble that Trouble caused, a doggie-friendly deal seems like a natural follow-up. [HotelChatter] 

A Piece of Porn for Paterson | David Paterson doesn't just want to tax your soda and cigars. He now wants to tax your porn, too. The governor is proposing sales tax on music and software downloads, which, his administration points out, would also apply to adult content. The good news is the tax would only apply to pornographers located within New York state, so all those Japanese fetish films you're so fond of will probably be exempt. [NYDN]

Mayor Bloomberg Will Squeeze Out Every Last Nickel | Remember late last year when Mayor Bloomberg announced plans to charge a 6-cent tax on plastic bags at grocery stores? The mayor downgraded the fee to 5 cents last week. The bad news is that it will now apply to all plastic bags, not just the ones from grocery stores. More bad news: This probably means more people are going to start carrying those FEED bags that Lauren Bush has been pushing for so long. [NYT]

Say Hello to the iTax | You thought Governor Paterson's proposed tax on non-diet drinks was silly? It gets better. As part of his new $121 billion budget, Paterson is also proposing an "iPod tax," which would assess state and local sales taxes on "digitally delivered entertainment services." [NYDN]

So there won't be so many wealthy bankers as usual at the Miami Art Basel this week. But people can at least expect to see lots of top execs and clients of the fair's sponsor, Swiss banking giant UBS, right? Sadly for already-despondent artists and dealers, it looks like a few of them may be well-advised to stay away, too: The FBI is reportedly heading down to Miami to mount a sting operation to ensnare a certain breed of tax-evader: Those for whom art collecting is a convenient method of surreptitiously moving vast sums of cash around, and if you have an anonymous Swiss bank account, even better! More