Fashion powerhouse Ralph Lauren, Brooklyn-born billionaire Ira Rennert and gossip-column staple Shelby Bryan are among thousands of New Yorkers who recently settled big debts with the state taxman as Albany aggressively moves to fill its dwindling coffers, records show.
The Polo designer’s high-flying ways couldn’t escape the reach of the New York Department of Taxation and Finance when it came to operating his $50 million Gulf Stream V private jet.
On Oct. 2, Lauren’s shell company, R.L. Wings, technically the jet’s owner, paid $4.18 million on its two-year-old tax debt, according to public documents.
Through a spokesman, Lauren said he was fighting to get the money back.
Rennert’s The Renco Group also lost its dispute with the state over how it records its business expenses. The state filed a warrant against The Renco Group, whose mining operations have been criticized as major environmental polluters, on Aug. 6, seeking a fortune in back taxes.
Rennert, whose Sagaponack, LI, mansion is considered the largest single residence in the country, settled the score by having his firm cut a check to the state for $1.77 million on Oct. 31.
“This was a disagreement that arose during the course of routine tax audits for years in which Renco filed its return and paid the state substantial taxes,” Rennert said in a statement.
Another notable settlement came from Bryan, Vogue editor Anna Wintour’s paramour.
Bryan, a Texas-born telecom millionaire whose affair with Wintour wrecked both their marriages, ponied up $976,222 Aug. 28 to settle his state debt.
The IRS also slapped him with a $1.6 million lien for outstanding federal tax debts in 2006.
Bryan’s spokesman insisted, “As of today, he doesn’t owe any money.”
By the end of the year, the state expects to close more than 335,000 open warrants valued at $1 billion.
Recently among them was one involving hard-driving Citigroup exec Peter Bauman, who has lived all over the world managing the investment bank’s money – but couldn’t escape his tax obligation to New York.
Bauman, a former manager of Citi’s operations in Taiwan and Argentina, claimed that he wasn’t a New York resident while overseas for eight years.
The Department of Taxation disagreed, noting that he maintained an Upper East Side apartment, and socked him with a $1.04 million bill May 13.
“I’m not a scofflaw,” Bauman told The Post.
“Citibank felt they had a legit argument: Because I lived overseas, I should not be taxed as a resident, but the state said tough luck.”
Citi paid up on his behalf Oct. 23.
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli