Entertainment

SACRAMENTO (AP) ― The state of California has a tax bill it would like to discuss with O.J. Simpson.

The Franchise Tax Board said Monday that the former football star owes the state $1.5 million in back state income taxes. Simpson made the state's list of 250 top tax debtors for the second year in a row.

The board is required to post a list of the top income tax and corporate tax scofflaws each year on its Web site after notifying them that their names will appear if they do not agree to pay their back taxes in full or in installments.

Tax liabilities that are under appeal, involved in litigation, in bankruptcy proceedings or under consideration for a settlement are not included on the list.

Simpson ranks 15th on the list this year. He was 33rd in 2007, the first year the board posted the names.

The companies and individuals on the list owe the state more than $123 million, according to the tax board.

A Florida-based attorney for Simpson, Yale Galanter, said he had not been notified of the debt.

"It's a pretty well-known fact I am his lawyer," he said. "Nobody has ever contacted me from the state of California. We've never even gotten a letter."

He said Simpson hasn't worked in California for 12 years and owns no property or assets in the state.

"He is and has been a legal resident of Florida," Galanter said. "What he could possibly owe the state of California $1.5 million for is just beyond me."

A spokesman for the board, John Barrett, said he could not discuss details of the Simpson case except to say the state has filed eight tax liens against Simpson dating to 1996.

"You can tell his attorney to call the numbers listed on the press release and we will gladly discuss how to remove his client's name from the top 250 list," Barrett said.

In 1995, the year before the California tax liens started, a Los Angeles County jury acquitted Simpson of murder charges in the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman. In 1997, a civil jury found him liable in their deaths and awarded their families $33.5 million.

In February, a state appeals court approved the renewal of that award, which has now grown to about $40 million with interest. Fred Goldman, Ron Goldman's father, filed for a renewal because Simpson has refused to pay.

Simpson and two co-defendants are scheduled to stand trial in September in Nevada on charges that they kidnapped and seized memorabilia items last year from two men in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Two other celebrities whose names appeared on the 2007 list— singer Dionne Warwick and comedian Sinbad Adkins—were not on this year's list. Barrett said that meant they had paid their taxes, were in the process of doing so, had reached a compromise settlement with the board or had substantiated a bankruptcy filing.

He said many of the 250 people and companies on the list were from other states, which makes it difficult to collect, but said the tax board was always seeking ways to collect the money.

"If somebody closes the big deal, we will make sure we are there when he's getting his commission check." Barrett said.

Posting the names of the top tax debtors on the Web is an attempt to put public pressure on them to pay up, board officials said.

Tax debtors have paid about $4.2 million in back taxes since the start of 2008 to keep their names off this year's list, the board said.

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