Analysis: Obama's Taxgate Continues To Grow

(CBS/AP)

Former Sen. Tom Daschle, above right, joined recently confirmed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as a high profile favorite of President Obama who made mistakes on his tax returns. The two were joined today by Nancy Killefer, above left, who withdrew her name as nominee for Performance Czar in the Obama administration due to a $946.69 tax lien on her home related to the nonpayment of employment taxes for household help.

4743150At this point Timothy Geithner, at left, the newly donned Treasury Secretary, is the only nominee with a tax problem exposed in the vetting process, who survived the confirmation gauntlet. He will likely be the last one until Obama's Taxgate blows over.

Clearly the cascading tax problems are not an outrageous scandal of great magnitude, but for a president set on leading a new era of responsibility, issues with nominees unable to pay taxes properly don't play well in middle America or with Republicans.

For the "clean up Washington" Obama administration, it's an embarrassment and a thorny distraction from getting the people's work done.

Daschle has profusely apologized for his tax judgment lapse, but it appears that he didn't fully address his tax problem until after the Cabinet position vetting process had commenced. Daschle's error was discovered and dispatched as follows according to a Senate Finance Committee statement:

"Senator Daschle told staff that in June 2008, something made him think that the car service might be taxable and disclosed the arrangement to his accountant. Senator Daschle estimated that he used the car and driver 80 percent for personal use and 20 percent for business use. On January 2, 2009, Senator Daschle filed amended returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007 reporting the value of the car service as income."

Odds are that Daschle could have gutted out the hearings and won confirmation, but he and/or the Obama administration weren't willing to deal with the distraction and were concerned about his lobbyist-like activities.

While Daschle was not a registered lobbyist, skirting the ethics provisions regarding conditions for employment by lobbyists recently set by Mr. Obama, he collected large fees for advising clients on issues related to working with or influencing the U.S. government.

It turns out that Mr. Obama's best and brightest are not the brightest when it comes to their taxes, and the vetting process needs some fine tuning. As a consequence, there is an emerging new standard when it comes to the qualifications of Mr. Obama's nominees and appointees -- no representation without paying your taxes fully.

Yesterday, Mr. Obama said that he would continue to back Daschle. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs chimed in during his daily press conference yesterday, saying that "nobody's perfect" in assessing Daschle's tax issue.

But today, nominees must be perfect in their tax preparation and payments.

Daniel Farber is editor-in-chief of CBSNews.com.

[whosaid1]

ballpen1: Wow such insight...where did you learn all that stuff?

[pepperp1]

I should stop making fun of Democrats because it''''s not easy being brain dead and unable to think for yourself.


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Posted by dongo1955 at 09:36 AM : Feb 04, 2009

very true that''s SOOOOOOO Republican


Both Parties are corrupt, both take my tax dollars and give it to their intrest groups...

BOOMERS BEWARE you are the target as you have the wealth and these fools belive you will role over ...... and let them...

[strand3d-2009]

Tom Daschle, Nancy Killefer, Timothy Geithner (who runs the IRS), all political big-wigs who can%u2019t figure out how to pay their taxes. These people aren%u2019t stupid%u2014maybe there%u2019s something wrong with the stupid tax system!

There is a way to trim the IRS from its staff of 80,000+ and totally eliminate both individual and corporate federal tax filing%u2014without resorting to a national sales tax. Let%u2019s abolish the current federal income tax on both corporations and individuals, and replace it with a single tax on each of the 50 states.

The states already have tax collection systems of some sort already in place, be it sales-based, property-based, income-based, or some combination of these. Congress could establish an appropriate tax for each state based on population and relevant economic indicators. The functions of individual tax collection which the IRS essentially duplicates for each state would be eliminated at the federal level. There would be no individual or corporate tax returns for the IRS to collect, only a single return from each state. States would tax corporations based on the amount of business conducted within their borders.

For champions of a %u201Cfair%u201D tax system (whether they be liberal or conservative) who feel they would lose their purpose in life if such a plan were implemented, I suggest taking their campaigns to the state and local level and fixing things there.

[walt1944-2009]

The IRS audits more AVERAGE citizens tax returns because some idiot in the IRS believes us average citizens are "tax dodgers"!

The IRS does NOT audit the highly-paid, highly-perked elite, the rich and powerful, and CORPORATE AMERICA, because some idiot in the IRS thinks these people are honest and trustworthy!

It has also been learned that IRS tax auditors put their shoes and underwear on backwards because THEY think its the right thing to do!!!

So, why should I worry about April 15th?????????

HAIL OBAMA????

[seriously121]

I can''t wait until they start checking ALL of Congress'' taxes. I bet they will find A WHOLE LOT OF STUFF!!! Bet this nonsense will STOP then!!!

[ballpen1]

We actually need to audit the auditors.

Posted by shanev137 at 02:01 AM : Feb 04, 2009

Ahhh... someone learned something from Enron-gate... Very good, young, man, very good!

[ballpen1]

I like that these things happend so early in his term, they will make him harder, better, more determined.

My trust in his presidency is not based on some religious like hype of a person but careful study of the way he moves, looks, talks, even how he stammers a bit when in a tight spot. He''s a tough guy, and being confronted with such avoidable nonsense early on will make him even tougher.

But i have to say right now i wouldn''t wanne be on his team, i guess they are in for a right presidential chewing (imagine your stern first grade teacher just _looking_ at you and you _knowing_ what you''ve done wrong).

[assemblyofso]

CHANGE WE CAN BELEIVE IN

Obama preaches virtue but practices vice.

He says we all have to sacrifice to get through this recession yet dines on $100 a pound steak.

The way to cure our deficit and fix the economy is to direct the IRS to audit the taxes of every politician, corporate ceo, and lobbyist.

[evian_ycnan]

Floyd,

Whilst it be a girlish piece, you assumption that it was written by Danielle Farber is a bit of a stretch.

Nonetheless, Obama has collected some $160,000 in owed taxes in less than two weeks. At this rate he`ll pay for Bush`s war of choice in NO TIME.

[ichabod57]

Well, well, well ... here we go again. Another supposed Washington scandal and some original thinker has slapped the word "gate" on the end of it. "Taxgate"? What is that, like a toll bridge?

Are you seriously trying to relate this with being as bad as Watergate (are you even old enough to REMEMBER Watergate), or are you just so stupid that you can''t come up with an original thought?

Drop the "gate" for once. We are tired of going through all of the "gates".