I have said all along if there was a problem I would talk about it. Well, I have a problem today.
Tom Daschle. It looks like he is becoming a problem. He has known since June that he had a tax problem and he just now is paying them and it is just now coming out. Why did he not pay them in June?? That would have really defused this whole thing.
Also, why did he not know he had to pay these taxes. If he had an accountant, what was he paying this guy to do?? I think I would be firing him and finding another one if he missed this and it cost me that much.
No, I am not blaming this on Pres. Obama, but I am saying it can present a problem for him that we really don't need right now. After dealing with Tim Geithner, now this.
Pres. Obama is struggling with the ethics issues he wants to hold to on the lobbying issues. They are so entrenched in Washington politics that it is hard to find good help in Washington that doesn't have ties to them, no matter who or what administration you are from. It seems once you leave office you automatically go to work for a lobbying firm.
He has already had to relax his stance from when he was on the campaign trail and is getting lots of heat from the media and some pundits over that. Now after asking for some waivers he is getting even more. Even though the ones he has hired fit in with the guidelines he set, Politico and others are trying to say he is stretching his boundaries by hiring so many. Lets see... he has 12 people who have very tenuous ties to lobbying out of nearly 8,000 employees. I don't think that's too bad.
But, back to the main issue here of the Daschle problem. What are we to do?? He himself never lobbied, but his wife did, so are they going to use that against him also?? I don't know for sure what to think about it, I am torn.
I was really leaning toward Howard Dean for this position anyway, and never understood the pick of Daschle. So, maybe it is time for a change here. I still think it might be a good use of Dean. Of course, we still don't have anyone in the Surgeon General position... Whatever happened to the Sanjay Gupta story anyway???
3 comments:
i have a real problem with this one -- mainly because daschle was trying to hide something (at least i think so) -- daschle should remove himself -- this will become an albatross for obama -- daschle has plenty of enemies on the right - and having him in a critical position with health care on the horizon --- with this problem -- IS a problem
I think so too DCap... sure seems like it.. to wait from June till January to do something.. just seems off to me..
I have a different perspective but it still leads to the same conclusion (that if Daschle's a problem confirmation, get someone else).
But I do have to say that at his level, these kinds of tax issues are common. Just like a worker rounds up his W-2's & other paperwork & uses them to calculate his taxable income, so a consultant rounds up his 1099's for his accountant to calculate his taxable income. The company who provided his car & driver was supposed to issue him a 1099 that Dashle would've used to calculate his taxable portion. By their own admission, they did not. So I can see how that slipped by. The other issues of charitable donations & deductions are also understandable but faulty interpretation of tax law.
Most tax accountants will advise such a client to take a deduction for which a case can be made and not report income he didn't receive a 1099 for and WAIT for the IRS to catch it & send him a tax bill. I don't condone it, but in many cases, tax law is not clear and the only way to test your case is to file a return & wait for the IRS to audit it.
I agree Dashle is compromised. But I also hate that the repubs have grabbed onto this issue in the wake of their success at tainting Geithner. In Geithner's case, they argued they only looked at his tax problem because his very cabinet position was directly involved with taxes. That does not seem to apply to Daschle's proposed cabinet post. Nevertheless, under their examination, it taints him in the public eye and that may be reason enough for withdrawal. Honestly though, it reminds me of all the Nanny-gate tax hunts for the Clinton cabinet nominations.
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