Timothy Geithner: Tax Dodger

Those of you that have read some of my other postings are well aware that my expressed opinions regarding the United States Government are often rather cynical. Today's news has served to bolster, if not completely justify, that cynicism.

First came the revelation that Timothy Geithner, who was nominated to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, apparently isn't much of a bookkeeper. It seems that Secretary wanna-be Geithner "forgot" pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for an immigrant housekeeper whose "Green Card" authorization to work in the U.S. expired while in his employ.

On top of that, he also admitted that he had failed to pay $34,000 in self-employment taxes while he was employed by International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2001 to 2003. He said that he paid the income taxes on his IMF income, but said that he had made a "common mistake" on his tax returns with regard to self-employment taxes.

(If you think that I may be making all of this up, here is a link to the Fox News story on Geithner's predicament, or at CNN Money if you hate Fox News).

Please allow my cynical side to call into question Mr. Nominee for Secretary of the Treasury's explanations for the above-mentioned lapses.

I can buy his explanations about not knowing if his housekeeper's paperwork had expired. If you busted everyone who made the same mistake, half of the East Coast's aristocracy and a like number of the West Coast's elite would be in the slammer. Among the ultra-politically-correct, it seems that "social consciousness" stops when they take out their checkbooks. It's the "simple mistake" part that's an insult to our intelligence.

Geithner wants you to believe that, even though he worked for the IMF and handed out billions of dollars at his own discretion, he didn't know that he wasn't paying self-employment taxes! If he was self-employed, he would have received a "1099" form from the IMF. Having myself been self-employed, I can assure you that it's very difficult to complete Internal Revenue Service Form 1040 without listing your self-employment taxes!

In 2002-2003, Line 56 of Form 1040 required that you enter your "Self-employment tax" and "Attach Schedule SE." How simple is that? More importantly, how the Hell do you fail to realize that an IRS Form 1099 means that you have self-employment income that must be taxed? Not even current Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson is that dumb!

In typical display of partisan hypocrisy Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, when asked if the Senate will confirm Geithner in light of his failure to comply with the same law that applies to everyone else in the country, said "Of course, the Senate will There's a few little hiccups but that's basically what they are, I am not concerned at all..."

"Little hiccups" such as Geithner's would get the typical American into some deep hot water with the IRS. I guess that "Change We Can Believe In" doesn't apply to the friends of President-elect Obama and Senator Reid.

It seems to this writer that Geithner is either a liar or lacks the intellectual capacity to properly fill out an Income Tax Form. And this is the clown that the other clowns in the upcoming Obama Administration wants to place in charge of the U.S. treasury? Either way you look at it, the guy should not be confirmed as Secretary of Anything, particularly as the new Secretary of the Treasury!

There is also the ongoing ruckus over the possible appointment of Caroline Kennedy to fill Hillary Clinton's soon to be vacated seat in the Senate.

Some have claimed that the lady isn't qualified to hold a Senate seat. This is hard to justify since she meets the job description requirements of Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution. On top of that, how can she be qualified to address the Democratic National Convention on the merits of Barak Obama yet be unqualified to represent New York as its junior senator?

I say appoint her because 1) she meets the job requirements, 2) she's prettier than any other potential appointee and, 3) she's a better driver than her uncle.

Finally, let's step back to take a look at the political landscape.

We are being asked (more like "told") to believe that 1) Jeremiah Wright only gave one racist sermon and waited until Barak Obama wasn't in the congregation to hear it; 2) that Barak Obama, who rapidly rose through the ranks of what is probably the dirtiest political machine since Tammany Hall, is the only politician in Illinois to emerge with a spotless record and, 3) that Barak Obama isn't a socialist, even though he admitted to "... seeking out Marxist professors..." in his college days and even though a number of his social acquaintances are avowed socialists.

Ceteris paribus (Latin for "all things being equal," since essays that use Latin phraseology have a certain academic "ring" to them), I must admit that it's truly a great time to be a cynic.