So you think all this stuff about Geithner and Daschle and their taxes is a bunch of Republican spin? Well, maybe it is, but I got an earful about it from one ardent Democrat this morning.
Samuel Tenenbaum, key Energy Party think-tanker, dropped by my breakfast table this morning. This is always an occasion for me to find out what is at the top of his mind — which can range from his 55-mph speed limit plan to endowed chairs (which were also his idea) to, well, almost anything. Samuel reads a lot, and cares a lot, about a heap of stuff.
But today he was fed up with Obama over the tax deadbeats he's been choosing for his administration. He was going on about how this was not the Change he had believed in when he supported Obama. At first, I thought he was mad because the new POTUS wasn't cutting these people loose once the news broke about their failure to pay. But no, he blamed Obama for not having sufficiently vetted these guys to begin with.
Paying your taxes is basic and fundamental, he maintained, and there's just no excuse for nominating people who haven't done that.
Anyway, Samuel convinced me of one thing for sure — that I should at the least put up a post to give y'all a chance to sound off on the subject. Yeah, I'm a little late, since Daschle withdrew his name today, but hey, I was out on medical leave yesterday (nothing serious; routine testing).
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A crook is a crook is a crook. You break the law and you are a crook. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Do the crime. You should pay the time. The IRS should not treat elected officials any different than the average citizen.
Now we will have elected officals holding office that are crooks. How can we trust an admitted income tax dodger? Maybe we should check the tax returns of President and Mrs. Obama if they think that manking a nomination for a cabinet position that has a background of income tax evasion is OK.
The tax system creates the opportunity and motive to commit the crime.
The devil is in the details of the thousands of pages of tax code designed by politicians to reward lobbyists who in turn reward the politicians.
I had to do a federal return plus three state returns this year. I ended up having to pay $400 in income tax to California even though I don’t derive any benefit from my time there AND my company pays hotel taxes, meal taxes, car rental taxes, etc. that surely cover my presence in the state.
Here’s another beauty of the tax code – I can’t deduct my son’s college costs because he gets the Life scholarship. Why should that matter? The cost of tuition exceeds the Life Scholarship.
Taxes : designed by idiots to reward crooks
I agree with Doug in general — I have no idea whether I’m breaking any tax laws or not because I don’t understand the system and I don’t see how I possibly could without devoting years of my life to the study of it. Wait, should I have said that in public?
That said, though, I don’t think Daschle was ignorant of the laws HE HELPED TO WRITE. I think you gotta suspect that if someone gives you a car and driver, you might have some tax liability as a result.
Doug,
I love your closing remark.
Taxes: Designed by idiots to reward crooks.
So now the crooks will be in charge. God help us because we really need his help.
My grand daddy told me when I was very small and repeatedly for years after that, that you cannot borrow your way out of debt. He said you only bought property when you could afford to pay cash. You saved up your money and then you bought what you could afford that did not require a mortgage.
Could the citizens of the US be the only country in the free world that is a capitalist society not know that you cannot always take from the productive and reward the non-productive and make a financial success of your country? When you cannot raise the uneducated and non-productive to a level of self sufficiency, you are doomed as a nation.
As bad as these guys are, I think the tax issues are the least of their negative character issues, and a smokescreen fed to the media as a simple template.
Obama tossed this latest appointment over the side for $950.00 in local taxes.
He keeps Geithner, who received the money for his taxes from the IMF, a non-USA entity, and pocketed the money.
He keeps Tom Daschle, who did not report over $400,000 in cash and in-kind services. Daschel is a lawyer and voted on tax laws for 20 years.
The bigger issues are that:
* Geithner headed the NY Reserve Board, which was supposed to be regulating these banks which failed and brought down the entire economy.
* Daschle raked in $3,000,000 a year as a lobbyist and “consultant”. It was post hoc payola for his special legislation when he was in office.
* Mrs. Daschle was the highest paid lobbyist when her husband was a senator. She represented ADM ( ethanol subsidies ), Lockheed, Northrup-Grumman, and Boeing, as well as all the airlines.
Thank you Lee.
Lee,
Keep informing. You are getting through to the uninformed.
Obama socialist – Carol Browner
Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick as global warming czar, was
listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for “global governance” and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.
By Thursday, Mrs. Browner’s name and biography had been removed from Socialist International’s Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group’s congress in Greece was still available.
Socialist International, an umbrella group for many of the world’s social democratic political parties such as Britain’s Labor Party, says it supports socialism and is harshly critical of U.S. policies.
Stephen Dinan
Washington Times
January 12, 2009
Lee,
Geithner is disappointing to leftists for the reason you mention (Obama putting the fox in charge of the henhouse), as well as for being a “gangster for capitalism” at the IMF.
Daschle’s situation is pretty typical for the political class in this country. Pretty much anyone with a conventionally-successful legislative career on either side of the aisle is going to have the same conflict of interest. It’s what makes them successful.
If Obama wants to limit grotesquely unwarranted incomes, he should start with his own staff. Rahm Emmanuel sat on the board of the federal mortgage loan guarantee corporation, lied about its losses, falsified annual reports, and collected $16,000,000 in bonuses. So did Jamie Gorelick. So did many of Obama’s campaign advisors.
Let’s see Obama and the Democrats pass legislation forbidding any former legislator being a lobbyist or PR spokesman for private industry for 5 years after leaving office. Until then, this limit on executive pay is just symbolism, a stunt to throw red meat to the Democrat base, which is so jealous and hateful of achievement.