128839

Taxes and Taxis

Yaphet J. Aryee was the person everyone went to for advice. "He was born in Ghana so he was the expert on that," said Ely Yulman, who worked with Mr. Aryee as an auditor with the State Division of Taxation and Finance, on the 86th floor of 2 World Trade Center. "He made his furniture when he got married, so people asked him how to fix the stairs in their house, or how to fix the engine in their car. But first of all, he was the smartest corporate tax auditor in the department. Millions and millions he brought in."

Like many other new immigrants, Mr. Aryee, 49, drove a cab when he first arrived in New York as a young man; hacking paid for bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration from Adelphi University. He and his wife, Maria, moved to Rockland County to raise their four children.

But Mr. Aryee never forgot his taxi, and in August he bought his own cab so he could begin driving again. "Only on weekends," Mr. Yulman said. "It was his hobby."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 2, 2001.