Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Hope you didn't try and cheat on your taxes last year or pull some sort of shady maneuver that you were hoping no one would notice. With the state now facing an unprecedented budget shortfall, tax authorities are now pushing people who haven't paid their outstanding tax bills to pay up in a hurry. Ralph Lauren had to hand over $4.18 million in back taxes recently, a debt related to taxes on his Gulfstream jet (photo here), although the fashion mogul says he plans to fight the ruling. Secretive billionaire Ira Rennert has been battling the state over a tax bill imposed on his holding company, the Renco Group, although he's since settled the case by coughing up $1.77 million. And Shelby Bryan, Anna Wintour's boyfriend (and the father of Alexis Bryan), also had to write a hefty check to New York State recently. In August, he handed over $976,222, although the IRS also hit him with a $1.6 million lien for outstanding federal taxes. Looks like Anna may not be able to retire so soon after all!

It's been a stressful week for Nello Balan. The lawsuit-loving restaurateur had his two restaurants seized by the IRS on Tuesday on account of $1.8 million he owes in unpaid taxes. But it's been two days now, which has given him enough time to settle up with the authorities and re-open his eateries. It's also given him time to pass the blame. As he nibbled on angel-hair pasta topped with scalloped truffles, he told the Post that it was all his accountant's fault, since they made miscalculations and didn't inform him there was a problem until it was too late. Don't worry though: Nello assures us the firm has been fired.

Nello Balan's Nello on Madison Avenue and his Hamptons outpost, Nello Summertimes, were both seized by the IRS for tax evasion this morning, reports Eater. Details are still a bit sketchy at this point and it remains unclear when the restaurants will reopen. (We're guessing anyone with a reservation for tonight is out of luck.) Also unclear: whether Nello's ghost-related travails, which were covered by the Times this past weekend, had anything to do with the bust. [Eater]

And She Used H&R Block, Too | Sarah Palin's tax returns are online. The Alaska governor and her husband reported $166,000 in income last year, including $17,000 in prize money which Todd Palin earned racing snowmobiles. [Slate]

Read Mike's Lips | Mayor Bloomberg is thinking about raising property taxes by 7 percent beginning in January. Great timing, huh? But don't say Mike didn't warn you! "Perhaps to soften people up for a tax hike, the mayor has referred to the need to find new revenue sources at least three times in the last week, most recently during his radio address on Friday." [NYT]

Yet Another Scandal-Plagued McCain Supporter | Bastion of credibility Maria Bartiromo—perennial leaker of information and the  most famous adultress in the history of private jet aviation—weighs in today on the presidential election, telling Page Six that if Obama's elected, "He's going to take the capital gains tax at 15 percent right now all the way up to 25 to 28 percent." Just think of how much Obama will cost Maria and hubby Jon Steinberg when they finally divorce and they have to sell the East 62nd Street townhouse they bought for $6.5 million last year! [NY Post]

Obama To Spark Epidemic of Penthouse Sales? | You wouldn't know it from the packed, $28,500-a-head fundraiser he held on Park Avenue last night, but Obama panic is setting in among the city's ultra-rich. With at least one member of the moneyed class, that is. From the Observer comes the report that Leonard Toboroff, chairman of Houston-based energy company Allis-Chalmers Energy, is putting his 3,973-square-foot, 11-room North Moore Street penthouse (which he bought from Tom Freston) on the market for $17.9 million. Why? He's worried that a victorious Obama will raise capital gains taxes. [Observer]