Massachusetts Sues Car Maker for Taxes

Cash-starved Massachusetts sued Mercedes-Benz of North America Inc. Tuesday for $6.2 million in unpaid corporate excise taxes for 1982 to 1985, state Revenue Commissioner Stephen W. Kidder announced.

The suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court charged that the North American affiliate of the German auto manufacturer refused to file returns or neglected to pay corporate tax and excise payments while doing business in Massachusetts since 1965.

“Mercedes-Benz of North America pays its fair share of taxes in those states in which we do business,” said A. B. Shuman, public relations manager at the firm’s Montvale, N. J., headquarters.