Having $750 in taxes two years in a row was a clear red flag that they were misrepresenting what was going on. Actual taxes owed look like some random number rather than the same thing twice in a row. Even if you make exactly the same, changes in the tax brackets would change the amount owed.
No doubt. It would be just about impossible to have that same amount for two consecutive years, especially for a private business with operations all over the world. There's no way anyone with half a brain at the Times could look at that and say, "Oh, yeah, that's possible".