Via MSNBC’s First Read: Another tax problem for Obama?
NBC News has learned that the president’s choice for “chief performance officer” — technically a deputy OMB director post — could end up having to withdraw over a number of issues, including tax problems.
Reports WaPo: Obama’s Choice for Chief Performance Officer Withdraws Name
In a two-paragraph resignation letter, Killefer indicated that controversy over failure to pay taxes by two other high-profile nominees of Obama’s had convinced her to decline the new president’s request to join his administration. Killefer had a tax lien placed on her house by the D.C. government in 2005 because she had not paid unemployment taxes for her household help. She resolved the problem five months after the lien was filed, but the Associated Press wrote about it shortly after Killefer was nominated in early January.
One does begin to wonder how to interpret these situations, including past nominees in other administrations who had domestic labor problems (which were often also tax-related).
A few thoughts:
* We have a bizarre and complex set of tax rules that can be quite confusing.
* The fact that payroll and income taxes are directly taken out of our paychecks leads us to forget that we are responsible for other areas of income, leading to complacency.
* A culture of tax-avoidance. It does seem that there is an attitude in the US that if we can get away with not paying a specific tax, we are justified in doing so.
None of this excuses Geithner, Daschle and friends, but I keep thinking about these types of things (especially the first one) with each of these stories.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
When the party in question has been campaigning for years on raising taxes on the rich, and then it turns out some of the better-paid nominees have been failing to pay all their taxes, it does make one wonder.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Why isn’t Charlie Rangle mentioned. He never paid penalties. Why is he the exception? He is head of the wrong committee. From what I understand the IRS waived his penalties. Double Standard. I am not the elite.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Does it strike you that if these established well to do politicians do not pay their taxes, then maybe we, the majority of the population are making the mistake pay paying?
I feel President Obama’s embarrassment People he has tagged to make major contributions have not found it important to obey the tax laws. Are these people hit with the same tax penalties for not paying that the rest of the country gets charged? Is it reaching the point that President Obama must go to the IRS first to see if his candidates are cleared?