First Geithner. Now Daschle.

annarborgator · Post by **annarborgator** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 12:24 am

I find it hilarious that our leaders struggle so mightily to pay their taxes. Obama's camp must be filled with retards or amateurs.

Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama's choice for secretary of Health and Human Services, paid about $140,000 in back taxes and interest after questions surfaced during the vetting of his nomination, according to documents being prepared by the Senate Finance Committee. (See full Senate Finance Committee statement.)

Mr. Daschle made the payments to cover a luxury car and driver provided to him by an investment firm where he was an adviser after leaving the U.S. Senate in 2005, but which he didn't report as income, people familiar with the report said. The payments also covered unreported consulting income and unwarranted charitable deductions. The tax period covered 2005 through 2007.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123335984751235247.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Tipmoose · Post by **Tipmoose** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:08 am

I find it hilarious that our leaders struggle so mightily to pay their taxes. Obama's camp must be filled with retards or amateurs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123335984751235247.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Either retards or amateurs....or privileged elitists who don't think the laws apply to them.

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:57 am

unwarranted charitable deductions? hmmm.

so not paying the taxes can't be explained away as oversight of some sort...

bluegrassg8r · Post by **bluegrassg8r** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:50 am

Elitists.

TTBHG · Post by **TTBHG** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:20 pm

I would be willing to bet that no BAer has ever exaggerated on their taxes.

Mlrtime · Post by **Mlrtime** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:54 pm

Thanks Eric!

DocZaius · Post by **DocZaius** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:30 am

I would be willing to bet that no BAer has ever exaggerated on their taxes.

Yeah, last time my job gave me a Cadillac and driver, I totally underreported it.

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 8:01 am

triple standard.

no way a republican would survive this 'discovery'...i think at the very least, the nomination should have been pulled to show 'CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANGE'

DocZaius · Post by **DocZaius** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:09 am

http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=3226

Obama Plan Has Already Boosted IRS Tax Collections
by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 49 Comments

(2009-01-31) — In office less than two weeks, President Barack Obama has already increased tax receipts at the U.S. Treasury with an innovative plan to get tax-dodgers to pay up, in full, immediately.

“The president’s plan is simple but ingenious,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, “He targets wealthy individuals who filed inaccurate tax forms, cheating the government out of tens of thousands of dollars. Then he just nominates them for cabinet positions. They suddenly see the error of their ways, and they cut checks for the full amount owed, plus interest.”

In the month of January alone, Mr. Obama has forced Timothy Geithner, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to cough up $43,000 he owed the IRS, and former Sen. Tom Daschle to pay off his $128,000 tax obligation. Mr. Geithner will put his tax-paying experience to good use, overseeing the IRS as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Daschle hopes his recently-good behavior will garner Senate confirmation as the next Secretary of the Health and Human Services.

“With the IRS underfunded as it is,” said Mr. Gibbs, “this collection method is much more efficient than dispatching field agents. Arresting these men, or compelling them to pay penalties would take years, and make them feel bad about themselves. The president’s method not only gets more money to the government to help our economy, but provides a self-esteem boost by giving these wealthy men important-sounding titles.”

The Obama administration will reportedly expand the program by creating hundreds, perhaps thousands, of additional cabinet posts, available to any rich person willing to “fess up and settle up” with the IRS.

TTBHG · Post by **TTBHG** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:53 am

I would be willing to bet that no BAer has ever exaggerated on their taxes.
Yeah, last time my job gave me a Cadillac and driver, I totally underreported it.

You need to step up your game.

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:17 pm

apparently - the NYT (if you can believe THAT) is calling for daschle to step down from consideration...i believe 5 major newspapers are in agreement with the new york MF times lol

so i kinda researched this and it's all FALSE...it's just a stupid editorial is all

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/opinion/03tue1.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=daschle&st=cse

The Travails of Tom Daschle

When President Obama nominated former Senator Tom Daschle to be his secretary of health and human services, it seemed to be a good choice. Mr. Daschle, as the co-author of a book on health care reform, knew a lot about one of the president’s signature issues. As a former Senate majority leader, he also knew a lot about guiding controversial bills through Congress, where he remains liked and respected by former colleagues.

Unfortunately, new facts have come to light — involving his failure to pay substantial taxes that were owed and his sizable income from health-related companies while he worked in the private sector — that call into question his suitability for the job. We believe that Mr. Daschle ought to step aside and let the president choose a less-blemished successor.

Mr. Daschle’s tax shortfall is particularly troubling because it comes on the heels of another nominee’s failure to pay taxes due. We were not pleased when the president’s Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, admitted that he had failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in federal self-employment taxes while working for the International Monetary Fund despite having signed paperwork acknowledging the obligation.

Now we are confronted with an even larger lapse by Mr. Daschle, who failed to pay $128,000 in taxes, primarily for personal use of a car and driver provided to him by a private equity firm for which he consulted. Although the firm — headed by a major Democratic donor — had not issued a form 1099 for the value of the car service, Mr. Daschle said he became concerned last June that he might owe taxes on it and instructed his accountant to investigate. Neither was concerned enough to actually pay the taxes.

Only after the Obama transition team flagged unrelated tax issues that would require filing amended returns did Mr. Daschle and his accountant address the need to report the personal use value of the car service — more than $255,000 over three years — as income. Only after he had been chosen to be the health secretary did Mr. Daschle tell the transition team about the unpaid taxes. He paid some $140,000 in back taxes and interest on Jan. 2 to settle several tax problems — and he acknowledges owing more.

In both the Geithner and Daschle cases, the failure to pay taxes is attributed to unintentional oversights. But Mr. Daschle is one oversight case too many. The American tax system depends heavily on voluntary compliance. It would send a terrible message to the public if we ignore the failure of yet another high-level nominee to comply with the tax laws.

Mr. Daschle’s financial ties to major players in the health care industry may prove to be even more troublesome as health reform efforts proceed. Like many former power players in Washington, Mr. Daschle cashed in on his political savvy and influence to earn $5 million in recent years, including more than $2 million from Alston & Bird, a law and lobbying firm; more than $2 million from the private equity firm, InterMedia Advisors, which provided the car and driver; and hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches to interest groups, including those representing health insurance plans, medical equipment distributors and pharmacy boards.

Although Mr. Daschle was not a registered lobbyist, he offered policy advice to the UnitedHealth Group, a huge insurance conglomerate. He was also a trustee of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, on whose behalf he voiced opposition to a federal loan for a freight rail line near the clinic’s headquarters in Rochester, Minn. The loan was subsequently denied by the Federal Railroad Administration.

Mr. Daschle is another in a long line of politicians who move cozily between government and industry. We don’t know that his industry ties would influence his judgments on health issues, but they could potentially throw a cloud over health care reform. Mr. Daschle could clear the atmosphere by withdrawing his name.

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:06 pm

it's official...daschle unfortunately does withdraw

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9648BP81&show_article=1

annarborgator · Post by **annarborgator** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:45 pm

There's one less tax cheat in the cabinet. Too bad we can't say there are no tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.

radbag · Post by **radbag** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:13 pm

should geithner pull himself?

i mean, two things could have occurred w/daschle

1 - BHO asked him to step down for the good of the country...BHO trying to save face and all.
2 - daschle's hand was forced when kellifer manned up and did the right thing so he himself was forced to withdraw

we'll never know what really happened but whatever the case, there was an attempt to try and gain back the confidence of a poor vetting.

now then - is geithner's hand forced? or should BHO stand up and for his high standard and withdraw geithner himself?

curious questions.

Tipmoose · Post by **Tipmoose** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:17 pm

Geithner's already been confirmed, yes? So "in the interests of our economy and the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves" Im sure it would be "In the best interests of the country" for Geithner to soldier on. Regrettably tainted and human though he may be.

annarborgator · Post by **annarborgator** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:24 pm

I want Geithner out more for his substantive policies. The fact that he blatantly cheats on his taxes is the easy way to force him out, if our leaders had one IOTA of integrity.

DocZaius · Post by **DocZaius** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:32 pm

I want Holder out. I wish they had dug something up on him.

Tipmoose · Post by **Tipmoose** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:16 pm

I want Holder out. I wish they had dug something up on him.

You and me both.