Local businesses named in state’s list of tax scofflaws

Some of California’s biggest tax scofflaws live or work in Glendale, La Crescenta and Burbank, racking up millions in unpaid taxes, according to the state.

The Franchise Tax Board and state Board of Equalization normally protect the privacy of taxpayer information, but in an effort to recover more overdue funds, a 2006 law requires the agencies to disclose the names of the 250 biggest scofflaws. The taxpayers are notified 30 days before their names are to be published.

The Franchise Tax Board’s annual list of those who owe the most income tax, released April 14, includes one Glendale doctor and a La Crescenta business. The Board of Equalization’s latest quarterly list of those who owe the most sales or use taxes includes four Glendale taxpayers and one each in La Crescenta and Burbank.

The lists include: Dr. Ilena Joyce Blicker, a medical corporation, of Glendale, $2.64 million; Samuel Hagop Dournazian of Glendale, operator of Vegas Truck Stop, $2.15 million; Youssef Fahmy Gabra of La Crescenta, operator of George’s Texaco, $2.01 million.

Also on the list are Changcho Tae Kwon Do of La Crescenta, $1.2 million; Ara Lousinian of Glendale, $1.07 million; Continental Homecare of Glendale, $789,000; the Burbank partnership of Sevan Aslanyan and Garabet Kocoglu, $743,000; Glendale’s Armen Lousinian and Petros Sarafian, who operated A & P Gas, $670,000.

Blicker has retired, according to her voicemail. She did not return calls seeking comment, nor did Dournazian.

Gabra lists only a post office box in La Crescenta, with no phone number. He filed for bankruptcy in 1996, according to federal bankruptcy court records — a year after the state Board of Equalization listed him as delinquent.

Changcho Tae Kwan Do filed for bankruptcy in July. The Pennsylvania Avenue studio at the Changcho address is called Worldwide Tae Kwon Do and is a separate business, according to operator Chang Hyun Cho.

Ara Lousinian’s phone did not accept messages. The address the Board of Equalization lists for him in Glendale, an apartment at 209 W. Elk St., does not exist.

Continental Homecare filed for bankruptcy in 2008, a year before the state Board of Equalization issued its first tax lien. A new business, SuperCare, operates at the former Continental site.

Aslanyan and Kocoglu filed for bankruptcy in 2001, one year before the first Board of Equalization lien. They could not be reached.

Armen Lousinian and Petros Sarafian’s debt traces back to 1996. Sarafian could not be reached, but Lousinian said that the issue was resolved long ago in criminal court proceedings, and that his name should be removed from the list.

Officials with the Franchise Tax Board and state Board of Equalization said taxpayers can erase their names by paying their bills, agreeing to payment plans or if their tax obligation has been lifted through bankruptcy.

Anita Gore, a spokeswoman for the Board of Equalization, said bankruptcy does not guarantee a taxpayer’s obligations have been erased, and the agencies look at the court cases to determine whether taxpayers are still on the hook.

“People go into bankruptcy all the time, then they can come out and they still have a liability with us,” she said.