Who doesn't hate the hassle of the income tax and curse the fools
in Congress who make the tax code ever complex even as they claim
to be lightening the load on taxpayers. Maybe we will have
a champion in the Obama Administration. It turns out that
Treasury Secretary-designate Timonthy Geithner has trouble paying
his taxes.
Reports the Washington Times:
President-elect Barack Obama's
Treasury Secretary nominee, who would oversee the Internal
Revenue Service, failed to pay nearly $35,000 in federal taxes
from 2001 to 2004 and has a history of mistakes and
late-filing, senators preparing to vote on the pick said
Tuesday.
In addition to the tax problems, the senators said the nominee,
Timothy Geithner, also failed to
fill out immigration forms for three housekeepers who worked
for him since 2004, and he employed one of the housekeepers for
more than three months after she was no longer legally allowed
to work in the U.S.
Democrats said the delinquent taxes, some of which Mr. Geithner
paid only after he learned that Mr. Obama was considering him
for the post, were an "honest mistake." Republican senators
said they will have to see what details emerge before deciding
whether to support Mr. Geithner's confirmation.
Of course, it would be easier to respect him if he was a
full-blown tax resister, prepared to go to jail for his
beliefs. The apparent mixture of carelessness and
procrastination looks a lot less noble. But maybe it will
encourage him to look for ways to lighten the administrative if
not the financial burden on the rest of us!
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).
