Comments on: New Secretary Nominee Hits Bump in the Road

By: What Does Glenn Beck Have in Common with Geithner, Killefer, Daschle, Sebelius and Kirk? | taxgirl

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:38:39 +0000

[...] and Services Secretary, Tom Daschle, did not fare so well. The former Senator from South Dakota failed to disclose more than $325,000 in reportable income and eventually paid an additional $128,203 in federal income taxes, plus $11,964 in [...]

By: Skip McQuaid

Skip McQuaid — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:22:52 +0000

Something I just read – apparently, based on previous years, this gentleman is going to give up about 2 1/2 million bucks a year to accept the cabinet position. I have no idea how much that position pays but it appears to me that if someone is willing to give up 2 1/2 million bucks a year then there must be more to this than meets the eye – not that any politician would ever, ever do anything underhanded or less then above board. Such as a tax understatment of a considerable amount.

By: Daschle Is “Deeply Embarrassed and Disappointed” By Tax Issues | taxgirl

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:07:45 +0000

[...] Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama’s nod for Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, has offered an apology for not paying more than $120,000 in federal taxes. [...]

By: D

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:30:39 +0000

Now I know why these Dems aren’t concerned about higher tax rates — they don’t pay anyway! I do have some clients with outstanding debts owed to the IRS should the President need more cabinet nominees. Problem is my clients are small business folks who were trying to keep the doors open by not escrowing the withholdings. That actually kept some people employed. But if we make sure more taxes go to Washington, then we get billion Dollar stimulous packages that may debatedly created jobs. Sounds Like Daschle — who I predict will be confirmed anyway — really is the winner in this mix. My how things have changed!

By: Carol Fritz

Carol Fritz — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:03:15 +0000

I just don’t get it.

I’ve been relying on professional tax advice from reputable CPA’s since my first real money job at WMMR in the ’80s. Even when I was audited as an outside salesperson because I bought a house and a car in a year when I only had $9,000 in declared income, I got a nice letter from the district director of the Internal Revenue Service that my return was accepted unchanged.

Business expenses must be ordinary and necessary. Self-employment tax is the way I pay for Social Security as a sole proprietor. These are not abstruse concepts.

By: Chris Fisher

Chris Fisher — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 22:25:55 +0000

Hmmmm…..I guess everyone should understand our Congressmen are above the law, it does not apply to them and they should be left alone to make all the rules we are required to follow.

Just kidding!

I guess all men are created equal….some are more equal than others! I was hoping this administration would be an example…not a bad example.

By: G. Cass

G. Cass — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:03:24 +0000

How about this novel idea. If we’re supposedly getting a “Change” why can’t we just find folks who are not encumbered with “shifty pasts” to help run our country. I expected more fresh/new faces who don’t have negative political pasts. As an American I feel we were in for more of the same crooked folks doing more of the same questionable things. If you truly want to put American investor/consumers at rest ,show us that the people you install are moral to their fellow Americans and will do their jobs to enforce laws. Not… how many times they have beat the system and still get installed in their respective appointments.
Someone who voted for one of nontraditional candidates.

By: Edward Adamsky

Edward Adamsky — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:53:08 +0000

As a lawyer, my major concern with our system of laws is that they are too complex for the ordinary person to understand. They say “ignorance of the law is no excuse,” but in practice it is an excuse that people can easily use any time. Our system of laws can only work if people understand and follow the laws. When laws get too complex – or worse yet, illogical and abstruse – people will stop trying very hard to follow them. I am sure this is so with tax law. It is vital that we simplify the tax code as well as other areas of the law that are so hard to understand that people just don’t try. Bad and complex laws breed contempt for the law. That may lead to further law-breaking and possibly to the ultimate destruction of our society.

By: wa jansen

wa jansen — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:16:23 +0000

How long have these guys been filing tax returns?? Come on , no excuses here. Sometimes the wealthy and the ego allows one to feel that it’s ok for them and that their behavior is unlikely to be noticed. They may be looking along time (it seems) for an honest politician to fill positions.

By: Another Tax Geek, CPA

Another Tax Geek, CPA — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:09:53 +0000

What’s with the strike out of ‘don’t want to’? There are lots of complicated provisions of the code, but neither Daschle or Geither’s issues were in those areas. They’re both very smart guys, who either didn’t bother to figure out the law, or intentionally disregarded it. There’s no way either of them were unable to comprehend the law. For Obama to include either of them in his cabinet is a slap in the face to honest taxpayers.

On the other hand, the tax gap gets closed a bit with each of Obama’s nominees.