The Daschle spokesperson insisted that the senator is the one who should get credit for discovering, fixing and disclosing the tax issue.Where was Daschle to find the problem before his name was floated as a cabinet pick? Why wasn't it picked up after the first year of error?
"In June 2008, Sen. Daschle mentioned the use of the car to his personal accountant and asked him if there were any potential tax consequences," the spokesperson said. "His accountant said that there could be tax consequences and said he was going to fix them as part of Daschle's 2008 filing. So when he got down to vetting, Sen. Daschle decided to amend his returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007, and he paid all the taxes. At the urging of Daschle, the accountant was very conservative in his estimates."
Daschle has long been one of President Obama's closest advisers, so it was no surprise when the mild-mannered pol was named Obama's nominee to be HHS Secretary shortly after Obama won election; his official nomination came Dec. 11, 2008.
Sorry, but Daschle doesn't get credit for finding the mistake. It's one that should have been reported to the IRS sooner. I suspect that Daschle would have continued with the nonpayment of taxes unless and until he was in a position requiring such disclosure. In other words, it was the threat of being caught during the nomination process that spurred him to "catch" his own tax mess.
No credit inures to him for that.
Daschle is the second Obama nominee to have tax problems, after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. That's not a good showing by any stretch, and it once again highlights the complexity of the tax code and how and why simplification is an absolute necessity to insure compliance and proper calculation of tax obligations.
No comments:
Post a Comment