Thousands of technology workers are facing huge tax bills by
Monday's income tax filing deadline because of company stock
they purchased last year that has since plummeted in value.
Accountants and politicians from Silicon Valley to Boston say
they have been inundated with horror stories about shares
purchased with employee options that workers once had hoped
would make them rich. Instead, employees are saddled with big
tax bills on profit they never saw.  Many of these workers now
owe far more in taxes than their stock is worth. Former Cisco
engineer Jeffrey Chou, 32, owes $2.5 million in taxes on company
stock he purchased last year that has since withered in value.
Chou figures that if he were to sell everything he owns,
including the three-bedroom Foster City, Calif., townhouse that
he shares with his wife and 8-month-old daughter, the family
still could not pay the bill.  View/Submit Comments for this
story  "I've lost sleep. I can't eat. I cannot pay, and we're
ruined," Chou said.  The one thing sustai