Taxes and The Times

While the New York Times never misses an editorial opportunity to call for higher taxes, endorsing or proposing at least 13 tax increases in the past seven years, that doesn't mean the company thinks its own executives, even at money-losing newspapers, should actually have to pay themselves for the taxes they owe. The Boston Business Journal reports (link via Romenesko) that P. Steven Ainsley, who was publisher of the Times company's Boston Globe from 2006 to 2009, a period during which the paper claimed it was losing about $80 million a year, will walk away from the paper with "$1.4 million in payments and vested stock compensation" as well as "$2.7 million in retirement benefits." The best part, though, is that the Times will reimburse Mr. Ainsley "for all nondeductible home-loan interest paid in 2009" and will also provide "payments to cover any taxes stemming from the Times' interest-related reimbursements." Nice work if you can get it.