Obama, Tax Evasion, and Double Standards
First there was the problem that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner created for himself while working at the International Monetary Fund between 2001 and 2004. Geithner was considered self employed at that time and was thus required to pay taxes for his social security and Medicare which he failed to do. An IRS audit that took place in 2006 uncovered Geithner's nonpayment of self employment taxes for the years 2003 and 2004. Geithner took care of the problem by duly paying the back taxes with interest and penalties.
The rest of the story that raises even more eyebrows during Geithner's confirmation is the fact that he only paid the back self employment taxes for 2001 and 2002 the very day he was nominated to be Treasury Secretary. Geithner also has a nanny problem of the sort that sunk two of Bill Clinton's nominees for Attorney General in 1993.
Despite the unedifying spectacle of having a tax cheat in charge of a cabinet department that runs, among other things, the IRS, the Senate confirmed Geithner to be Treasury Secretary by a roughly two to one vote.
Now Health and Human Services nominee former Senator Tom Daschle has his own tax problem. Recently Tom Daschle was forced to pay back taxes with interest on the free car and driver he had been receiving from a Wall Street friend for the past three years.
These kinds of revelations have caused some people to suggest, perhaps a little tongue in cheek, that the stimulus package might be paid for just by forcing high profile Democrats to pay their taxes.
A biggest scandal, though, appears to be the bi-partisan tolerance for these kinds of shenanigans in the United States Senate. Geithner's tax problems were barely a speed bump on his way to being confirmed. There is no evidence so far that Tom Daschle's tax problems are going to pose much of an impediment to his confirmation either.
Considering how the IRS reacts when most people are caught not paying their taxes, this situation suggests that, at least under Obama's regime of "hope and change", there are different rules for the well connected than there are for the rest of us. Unfortunately this sort of thing tends to erode respect for the law. That could prove a problem for President Obama as he seeks to fulfill his campaign promises to raise taxes "on the rich."
Source: Uh oh: Obama Treasury nominee had "undocumented" housekeeper, Allahpundit, Hotair.com, January 13th, 2009
Bumps in the Road: Obama's HHS Secretary Nominee Faces Tax Questions Over Car and Driver, Jake Tapper, ABC News, January 30th, 2009
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentIt may be forgivable, as Shanika says, but still I ditto Snidely, Agnes & Moursalen.
The corruption, racism, greed, ignorance and incompetence are just beginning. Already some of Obama's selection of his cabinet are already laden with corruption. Where is the change? Most of his appointments are laden with Clintons dirty linen. All we see is more of the same. Obama's rants about change are white lies. He won by duping voters about change and all the change we see is giving away money to those who caused the recession on the backs of generations to come. The battle is just beginning. The most recent flap, involving discoveries that Treasury Secretary-designee Timothy Geithner had a maid working for him illegally and failed to pay his own payroll taxes for a few years, Now Tom Daschle is in the mix. Throw them in jail just like they do to the rest of us ordinary citizens when we circumvent the law. . Obama should start over with his appointments. Nuff said
I imagine illegal torture erodes respect for the law too. Is that not also worthy of a snotty article condemning it? Oh no I forgot - old W and the band of war criminals were Republicans, therefore above reproach. And don't forget everyone, that violation of the constitution was for your own good. Double standards? Indeed.
We will see double standards for the next 4 years at least.
Integrity and ethics are important in the Obama administration, except when they're not. Don't you know we have a crisis here? Without Geithner and Daschle, the economy cannot stage a stunning comeback.
Mark, how dare you fail to recognize the mantra of the Lefties - one standard for them, another for the rest of us. This is too important to let a little thing like tax evasion for 2 or 3 years get between the need and the greatest and most capable man this side of the Messiah himself.
While Geithner's "ignorance" is disturbing, Daschle's is forgivable.