Well, that’s unfortunate, but you gotta pay those freaking taxes.
Maybe an opening for Dean?
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What do you mean, unfortunate? Unfortunate that a K Street tool of the health care industry was denied control of the Department of Health & Human Services?
It’d be great if Dean were brought in. It won’t happen.
Change we can believe in.
That’s 3 tax cheats in two weeks.
Democratic culture of corruption.
It’s not really “unfortunate” that a tax cheat doesn’t hold office either, btw.
Unless you’re a hypocrite.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday underscored his support for health secretary-designate Tom Daschle, despite tax errors that prompted Daschle to pay $140,000 in back taxes.
During a meeting with Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, Obama was asked if he still supported Daschle.
“Absolutely,” Obama replied.
OW: Well, that’s unfortunate,…
Which aspect do you see as unfortunate, Oliver? That Daschle won’t be Secretary? That he was put forward in the first place? Other?
IMHO, it’s unfortunate that Obama is stumbling this soon out of the gate. Not expecting him to be perfect, and all previous there is a learning curve once actually in the office. But by making picks that either aren’t well vetted or contradict the new way of doing business that he promoted aren’t doing him any favors.
Huzzah! Mad props to Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi for their contributions!
Good post, Sean D. Martin.
Let’s hope this is all just a series of unfortunate events for him that he will soon correct and move forward. But for a guy whose wife declared that he ‘will demand that we shed our cynicism’, this won’t sit well with anyone being told they need to pay more taxes so that he can spread the wealth.
“Change we can believe in.”
..Makes y’all yearn for the loyalty oath days..
I made a similar comment in a previous thread, but it seems relevant here too.
No one (other than Crazypants McCann, above) has accused Mr. Daschle of being a “tax cheat.” The reporting on his troubles says he realized–back in June–that he might have underpaid because a service offered by a friend could be considered income. He eventually amended his return and voluntarily paid the additional tax.
Where’s the “cheating” part?
Now if you want to make the argument that people in public life should know better and shouldn’t make these kinds of mistakes, then have at it. Throwing around accusations like “tax cheat” is baloney.
Democratic culture of corruption.
Says the guy with the blood of tens (possibly hundreds) of thousands of Iraqis on his hands. so yeah…
While the ultra-cons’ smugness leaves a bad taste in my mouth, this IS getting pretty stupid to say the least.
Watching Quaker twist himself into pretzels trying to justify Daschel’s tax cheating is priceless.
What was it that Biden said? Paying taxes was patriotic? By Biden’s reasoning, I am questioning Daschel, Geithner, Rangel, and Killefer’s patriotism.
Quaker in his Mom’s Basement, seriously, I applaud you.
I applaud you like I applauded the story of the little boy with his finger in the dyke.
Tax cheat, or dumbass. Take your pick. Neither are good. And if someone isn’t bright enough to pay their taxes, then maybe they shouldn’t be in that office.
And perhaps they should have actually vetted him.
Watching you make excuses for this 2 week trainwreck going on w/the new admin is laughable. That’s three tax cheats, and a bunch of lobbyists he’s appointed. LMAO!
Change we can believe in.
Where’s the “cheating” part?
I admire your attempt to give Daschle the benefit of the doubt. Regarding your criticism of mccann for calling him a “tax cheat”, I would take it more seriously if you had the same admonishments for other posters here over the past few months referring to JTP as a “tax cheat” and “tax-dodger” for a paltry $1200 in back taxes that he may not have even known he owed:
“There is no judge pulled, there is no attorney assigned… There is a 99 percent chance he doesn’t know about the lien, unless he did a credit report or was ready to pay his taxes,” Losie said.
Watching Quaker twist himself into pretzels trying to justify Daschel’s tax cheating is priceless.
I am neither twisting facts nor giving Mr. Daschle the benefit of any doubt.
What I am doing is saying that you people are making things up. I have seen nothing published that indicates Mr. Daschle attempted to evade paying taxes he owed. The reports I read say he voluntarily amended his return and paid additional taxes and penalities.
To this point, no one has shown me anything to the contrary.
If you got anything other than name-calling, let’s see it.
He didn’t pay his taxes. He was appointed to hold high office. Theses two things don’t go together. Tax cheat or idiot, tomato or tomahto. Either way, this type of thing happening three times is inexcusable and horribly incompetent.
I’ll be waiting for some of you to defend Joe the Plumber now too. How many times was he called a “tax cheat” or something similar on this site again?
Change we can believe in!
Tax cheats, lobbyists, and rendition!
So, you don’t have an answer to the question, then?
What else do you call someone that fails to pay over 100k in taxes?
An oh-shuckey-darns-I-forgot-ta-pays-ma-taxes?
There’s your answer. It’s irrelevant whether he meant to or not. The man is a tax cheat. You can defend him by splitting hairs all you want, it just makes you look ridiculous.
To this point, no one has shown me anything to the contrary.
It’s apparently not as cut and dried as you’re making it:
You can defend him by splitting hairs all you want …
but I’m going to keep attacking him by splitting hairs the way I want.
Fixed.
I repeat: Where’s the “cheating” part?
An oh-shuckey-darns-I-forgot-ta-pays-ma-taxes?
Are you telling us that you believe he didn’t pay his taxes at all during those years?
Please allow me to bring you up to speed. Mr. Daschle filed a timely return and paid taxes. He failed to count as income a car and driver provided by a friend and previous campaign donor. (I have my own problems with this that don’t involve tax obligations.) Mr. Daschle discovered his error on his own–not because he received notice from the IRS or because of any enforcement action. He voluntarily paid more tax.
Now: cheating?
“You can defend him by splitting hairs all you want, it just makes you look ridiculous.”
Darn tootin’! Lets offer the position to the least qualified! Oh hello, Michael Brown! How are you, Patrick Rhode? Pleased to meet you Dr. Eric J Keroack, Julie Myers, Jay Hallen, James Haveman, Scott Gottlieb, Todd Harding, Susan Orr,….
Daschle was more than qualified, though I always feared how much he could stand up to the insurance industry based on his wimpiness as dem leader. Yes, he should have paid but there’s no evidence it was deliberate. President Obama’s vast majority of of appointees have sailed with no problem. Comparisons to the last 8 years of crap are ridiculous.
So… wait, are you saying you DO think Joe Wurlzbacher is a tax cheat? Or are you saying your definition of “cheating” on your taxes is dependent on how much money was misreported?
seems to be a pattern…
Dem: “I have a problem, it’s my fault, and I’m going to fix it”
Rep: “What problem? How dare you insinuate that I have a problem? Talk to the Hand…”
must be why I see so many Dems making their problems right, and so many of their ReThug colleagues in Jail, or on probation….
Listening to the faithful here hem and haw and obfuscate and ask “What’s the big deal? Really, what’s the big deal?” on the vetting train wreck that is the Obama Epress: Mildly amusing
Reading comments from the gang here from last August on John McCain’s No Vetting Watch in his choice of Sarah Palin: Priceless
Everyone excusing Daschle because “there was no evidence it was deliberate” were the first to scream “Bush lied!!!” when all the evidence pointed to Bush being given bad intel. How was he supposed to know it was wrong?!?
If we’re going to hold Bush responsible for the failures of British intelligence, then the least we can do is ask Daschle to be responsible for doing his taxes correctly the first time
Listening to the faithful here hem and haw
I never hem.
Haw!
If we’re going to hold Bush responsible for the failures of British intelligence, then the least we can do is ask Daschle to be responsible for doing his taxes correctly the first time
Wait. Let’s give him a do-over.
Farris, is that really the comparison you want to go with? Because, you know, there is an important difference you might want to consider.
Comparisons to the last 8 years of crap are ridiculous.
Gads, Oliver, Bambi’s only two weeks in to this so far. Take the nightmare start of these past two weeks and project out another 206 to the end of his first term, and even the most loyal and starry-eyed Obama supporter has to seriously wonder if he gets the job for the next 208 weeks after that.
Comparisons to the last 8 years of crap are ridiculous.
Gads, Oliver, Bambi’s only two weeks in to this so far. Take the nightmare start of these past two weeks and project out another 206 to the end of his first term, and even the most loyal and starry-eyed Obama supporter has to seriously wonder if he gets the job for the next 208 weeks after that.
My last linky no worky, apologies.
No Vetting Watch
Save Farris: …when all the evidence pointed to Bush being given bad intel…
Did you not see any of the numerous stories of how Bush/Cheney “hand-picked” intelligence, disregarded reports that didn’t support what they wanted to hear, and generally refused to listen to intelligence agencies that said its case for war was weak?
Must be nice to have such selective eyes.
“Daschle was more than qualified,…”
I thought Obama pledged that no lobbyists would serve in his administration or does that directive have an asterisk by it too?
“Comparisons to the last 8 years of crap are ridiculous.”
Who’s comapring to the last 8 years. It’s the typical culture of corruption of the democrat party.
“Daschle was more than qualified, though I always feared how much he could stand up to the insurance industry based on his wimpiness as dem leader. Yes, he should have paid but there’s no evidence it was deliberate. President Obama’s vast majority of of appointees have sailed with no problem. Comparisons to the last 8 years of crap are ridiculous”
So I guess he’s another Joe the Plumber. A “non-deliberate tax evader.” Right on. CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!
Perhaps “Tax Cheat Tommy” should be his nickname. Or TCT for short.
Hey, these are your standards guys. Ashame they didn’t research Daschle the way they did a plumber from Ohio.
Sheer incompetence.
………..and the trainwreck rolls on………..
And if someone isn’t bright enough to pay their taxes, then maybe they shouldn’t be in that office.
Well good thing he isn’t, now isn’t it?
And I see that jmac doesn’t oppose or have any issue with having gallons of blood on his hands. Good to know.
Did I miss something Farris? Did Daschle try to excuse his tax problem by saying a ruling by a British tax agency overruled the IRS and the US tax code?
Nicely done, ‘pidge. Avoided the obvious and went with irony instead! TFJ!
Do you know what provision of the IR Code Daschle failed to follow? Daschle was not involved in tax policy in the Senate to my knowledge (if I am wrong, correct me.)
Sometimes services have to be recognized as income and sometimes they do not. Obama doesn’t have to recognize the value of his car and driver; they are essentially a mandatory working condition fringe, and exempt from the definition of taxable income. In addition, gifts of services are sometimes taxable as income and sometimes treated as bona fide gifts. Daschle re-filed an amended return in accordance with tax law and procedure, and paid the amended balance due with interest and penalties. The tax payers were not harmed; they made out better than if Daschle had paid on time.
Quick, wingnuts: what section of the U.S. Code provides the definition of income that Daschle violated? Do you know “your enemy”? If not start studying, as my tax law professors might have said 15 years ago in law school. I will hat tip on my blog the conservative commentator who gets the answer right the quickest.
He didn’t pay his taxes.
Except that he did.
He was appointed to hold high office.
Right. Senator.
If Daschle didn’t have the balls for this fight he probably doesn’t have what it takes for the health care fight. Adios.
Hey, these are your standards guys. Ashame they didn’t research Daschle the way they did a plumber from Ohio.
Sheer incompetence
Aren’t you getting tired of pressing the barrel to your temple, Joy?
You’d think after not vetting someone properly ruins your campaign (McCain picking Palin) Obama would have learned his lesson. But Obama dropped Daschle like a hot potato and we move on. He even admitted he’d made a mistake.
It’s refreshing that we some someone who holds himself accountable back in charge.
Bruce, I don’t have to be a CPA to know that if someone provides me with a limo and driver for a couple of years, and pays me over 83K in consulting fees, I’d think of that as income, not a “gift.” And again, this non-CPA is fairly confident that taxes valued over $10,000 have to be declared as income.
But I just use TurboTax to do my taxes online, and — thanks to Secretary Geithner — we know how unreliable TurboTax can be…
J.
I don’t know JayTea, but let’s see how you operate. I missed most of the details, but it’s been referenced lately that you ran up some medical bills that you couldn’t pay. You paid less than the full amount. So, did you pay the income taxes on the amount you didn’t pay for this windfall? Now that you know that written off debt settlement money is considered income by the IRS, will you be amending your returns and sending them a check?
Midder, I’ll take the Daschle/Geithner defense — the statute of limitations has expired on that.
J.
In other words, you have no excuse, and don’t hold yourelf to standards that you insist others should have. Daschle self-policed and paid his tax bill.
Jay, all income must be reported if one has a duty to file, not just amounts over 10k. Self employed people including consultants must file even if the government owes them or their revenues are de minimis.
I am not convinced that the taxable income status is so clear.
Since no one took the challenge, here’s a large hint. Section 61 itemizes various forms of income and generally is regarded as the “fundamental theorem” or “prime directive” of income taxation. Section 102 defines non-taxable gifts. Read both and compare. Then read the regs promulgated by the IRS under each. You got Internet? Prove Daschle wrong.