Al Capone was sentenced to eleven years and heavy fines for tax evasion and curiously not nominated for Secretary of the Treasury-->
I'll just state the obvious--if a Bush Treasury-Secretary nominee had failed to pay $34,000.00 in taxes, he would have been crucified and his nomination withdrawn. In fact, he never would have been nominated in the first place.
Obama transition officials continue to say Mr. Geithner's failure to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes was a common mistake for employees at international organizations in Washington. The Internal Revenue Service issued a settlement initiative in 2006 granting amnesty to employees of international organizations who come forward and pay back taxes.Finance committee aides said that settlement applied to all employees of international organizations, from the cooks and cleaning ladies of Embassy Row to senior World Bank economists. Most of the accidental scofflaws were low-level contractors at embassies, they said.
An interesting choice of words. I've known various people who've worked for the U.N. which also doesn't do withholding. The common mistake is actually better termed a common practice. One couple I knew were very frank about it--it was a financial windfall and they were going to exploit it to the fullest.
Geithner knew precisely what he was doing, and only the prospect of a cabinet position compelled him to pay his social security taxes, otherwise he would have gone merrily on his way with no one the wiser.
The Democrat's hypocrisy on this is beyond the pale, but we're used to that. If anything this is a lesson to the naive about the nature of the American political system--Republicans have always been held to higher standards, which is why frankly I vote for them. Linda Chavez had to withdraw because she didn't withhold and pay taxes for her nanny. Tim Geithner is, but the standards of U.S. tax law, and out-and-out cheat, and there is virtually no possibility that he doesn't get confirmed.
The state media is of course fulsome in their praise of Geithner, who is of course, "a genius". I ask you--how do you think the IRS would treat you if you didn't pay your taxes for five years?
I don't know if Obama is simply stupid or if the intersection of qualified and ethical is so constrained that he has little choice but to nominate ne'erdowells to important positions in his government. Geithner is peanuts compared to Hillary Clinton, who is on record as having done favors for Bill's contributors no less than six times. The man has collected nearly half a billion dollars since he left office, from some of the same people the left identified as very bad men to whom the Bushes have been way too involved with.
Yet the real mystery in all of this is why Bill Richardson was the only one to get the heave-ho? His "crimes" seem to be par for the course among this motley crew, and yet he's the one spending more time with the family. Perhaps the Hispanic grievance industry isn't meeting performance standards set by blacks, gays and other groups.
Here it is folks, on full display--a fully mature culture of corruption.
