Tax time is fast upon us, so New York's Department of Taxation and Finance has released its list of top delinquent taxpayers. One of them is Frederick Whittemore, a recently retired lifelong bigwig at Morgan Stanley. Taxes are for suckers!

"Frederick B. Whittemore and/or Marion W. Whittemore" rank 47th among New York's most flagrant tax deadbeats[pdf]—the state says they owe more than $1.3 million in back personal income taxes. According to this bio at the Aspen Institute, Frederick B. Whittemore is a "senior banker, partner, managing director, and advisory director of Morgan Stanley and Company in New York," where he has worked for 35 years. And according to this 2007 story in The Dartmouth, the self-same Whittemore recently spent $3 million at Dartmouth College to establish the "Marion and Frederick Whittemore 1953 Distinguished Artist Series Fund."

We've called Morgan Stanley—which took $10 billion in TARP money in 2008, which it has since repaid—to ask them why one of their life-long multimillionaire bankers is stiffing New York on his income taxes, but haven't heard back yet. We've also left a message for Whittemore at his home. It appears from this Business Week bio that he may have recently retired from Morgan Stanley, but he's still a director at Chesapeake Energy Corporation and on the board of advisors for Ark Capital Management and can afford to give $3 million to the pricks at Dartmouth and excuse us now while we hoist the black flag and start slitting throats.

UPDATE: Whittemore called us to tell us that "my taxes have been paid." He sounds like a nice, grandfatherly old ruthless plutocrat. When we asked him why the state of New York might be under the impression that he in fact owes $1.3 million, he demurred: "My tax man says to tell you that the taxes have been paid." Then he referred us to a "Mrs. Richards" in the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, whom he said will "tell you all about it." He didn't have a first name, apparently because gentlemen don't ask ladies for their given names.

SECOND UPDATE: We spoke on Wednesday to Annette Richards, a tax compliance agent with the New York Department of Taxation and Finance, and she confirmed that Whittemore had indeed been a delinquent taxpayer for failing to pay his 2008 state personal income taxes, but that he finally paid his $1.3 million bill six days ago, on March 18. The list of tax deadbeats released by the state on which Whittemore ranked 47th was released this week, but it had been compiled in February.