What is it with these "Washington Insiders" that they can't pay taxes?

[HardWorkingDem]

TalkingPointsMemo is reporting another Obama selection is withdrawing because of tax issues on a housekeeper.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/official_performance_czar_withdraws_candidacy_2.php


What is it with these people? How much of this stuff will it take to get these people to pull their heads out of their asses.

The sad thing about all this is it keeps showing the amazing disconnect of Washington to that of regular Americans. This woman had TWO nannies and a personal assistant!


So someone tell me, if these people run in circles where friends "give" them a car (Daschle) or have numerous nannies and the like, how the hell can't they afford a frigging tax attorney?!?!

[AndyA]

1. Leona Helmsley said it best: "Taxes are for the little people."

If you're a big wheeler dealer hot shot in government, you don't need to pay them. Seems obvious to me that a lot of government officials don't bother to pay them.

[TeamJordan23]

2. It probably all means that Dems are going to take a hit in 2010. nm

[camera obscura]

4. That's stretching it. If it was an even field maybe, but the races are stacked in our favor in '10.

[camera obscura]

3. I think they really believe they're above it all.

[texastoast]

5. Cheaters, that's what they are

The rich want to get richer. And I don't think a damned one of them who has cheated on their taxes should be allowed in. They need to be thoroughly vetted before even offering them a chance to get confirmed. This is just like the pukes and I want none of it.

Pay up--like the rest of us.

[hamsterjill]

9. Agree totally

There are simply too many fish in the sea, too many qualified people to choose from, for Obama to be confirming anyone with baggage like tax issues.

Doing this (confirming) will only serve to cast doubt over those confirmations.

[elocs]

6. K&R because I too am sick to death about this kind of crap

and I am disappointed that Obama cannot seem to find people who can simply do what is right. In Dachle's case this seems to stink of some quid pro quo and that is simply sad and pathetic. I would hate to seem this kind of thing become one of the defining elements of the Obama administration and you can bet it will be brought up when he runs for reelection. This stuff is certainly not the change for which we are looking.

[ClarkUSA]

7. The deputy OMB director nominee paid back the $900 tax lien 5 months after she was notified.

Not a big deal except if you're wanting to make it one. But then again, circular firing squads are a Democratic speciality.

[HardWorkingDem]

11. Sorry, no sympathy here....

If a person can afford two nannies and an assistant, then that person can afford to write a check on time and not five months later.

I'm sorry, but this stuff is ridiculous and has nothing to do with the infamous Democratic circular firing squads. As someone else pointed out, there are too many qualified people out there, i.e., Howard Dean.

[avaistheone1]

12. Priot to getting to the point of being a tax lien she already had been informed for some time

that she owed the money and she still disregarded payment - then and only then is the IRS forced to place a lien on one's property.

[unblock]

8. the richer you are, the more you have stuff in the tax code's "gray areas"

moreover, the more it pays to have an accountant who "pushes the envelope".

the reality is that there are two levels of tax cheats: clearly and demonstrably intentional (criminal) and plausibly accidental (not criminal).

few people will do things that are clearly and demonstrably criminal. no one wants to go to prison. note, though that i said DEMONSTRABLY criminal. plenty of people overstated charitable deductions before they cracked down on it, and many people with tip income surely understate their tips. they can get away with it because no one can prove anything.

however, LOTS of people will do things that their accountant says "you have a 1 or 2% chance of getting audited. so 98-99% of the time, you get away with it no questions asked. the 1-2% of the time you do get audited, they find it and you have to pay back taxes, maybe interest and penalties (at maybe 6% these days), but you'll never do jail time or have a criminal record."

what would YOU do?

now, you would think that anyone in washington would know enough to keep clean, but even power players don't necessarily believe they'll ever get appointed to anything requiring senate approval. there are so many positions in washington that don't require it, including, obviously, the private sector (business/lobbying).

[avaistheone1]

10. This is just another way of saying "only the little people pay taxes".

And evidently once these men and women come to Washington they no longer regard themselves as little people.

[unblock]

13. what i mean is that it's not just washington.

it's a whole lot of rich people across the country.
and a considerable amount of merely middle class people, as well.

our tax system and enforcement is practically designed to encourage making dubious deductions and so on.