The Democrats are a forgiving folk--at least if you are one of
them. Average people who make tax mistakes should be
hung. But potential nominees for a Democratic Cabinet,
well, that's something quite different. The Wall Street
Journal proposes applying the same compassionate
standard to the rest of us. Editorializes
the Journal:
Some of our readers may recall something called "the tax gap,"
which is the estimated difference between taxes due under the
law and the taxes that the Internal Revenue Service actually
collects. In 2007, the IRS estimated that the gap stood at $290
billion a year. And since Democrats took control of Congress,
Senators like Max Baucus and Kent Conrad have made a fetish out
of closing the gap. Mr. Baucus has browbeaten the IRS over the
gap, demanding plans to close it and putting out newsletters
decrying it.
...
But now Mr. Geithner has come along seeking the job of
overseeing the IRS, among other duties. And lo, Mr. Geithner is
a living embodiment of The Gap.
He's no different from those people -- you know who you are --
who overestimated their charitable contributions or "forgot"
about that $500 cash payment they received when it came time to
do their taxes. Even after the IRS audited him in 2006, Mr.
Geithner paid back taxes only for the two years -- 2003 and
2004 -- for which he had been audited. He did not bother to
amend his 2001 and 2002 returns until late last year, when the
tax issue came up during the Obama vetting process.
But Mr. Baucus, who once called the tax gap "an affront to all
the rest of us who pay our taxes," is not affronted. "This is
an honest mistake and it's clear there was no intention not to
pay," said the Finance Committee Chairman.
For our part, we are delighted that Mr. Baucus and Democrats
are suddenly in such a forgiving tax mood. In addition to being
a teaching moment for liberals, perhaps Mr. Geithner's tax
snafu can do all of America some good. We'd suggest that Mr.
Geithner and Mr. Baucus together set a new standard for the IRS
in dealing with people who, like Mr. Geithner, make a boo-boo
on their tax returns.
Let's have an amnesty -- with penalties waived, as they were
for Mr. Geithner -- for all those Americans who somehow
"forgot" to pay their taxes but are now willing to fess up or
are audited. If forgiveness is to be the order of the day for
the man who may soon be responsible for the IRS, American
taxpayers deserve a similar reprieve.
