Written Jan 14, 2009
Geithner slowed, not stopped by tax problems
Geithner failed to pay self-employment taxes for money he earned from 2001 to 2004
He paid some of the taxes in 2006, after an IRS audit discovered the discrepancy for taxes paid in 2003 and 2004.
But it wasn't until much later - days before Obama tapped him to head Treasury late last year - that Geithner paid back most of the taxes, incurred in 2001 and 2002. He did so after Obama's transition team found that Geithner had made the same tax mistake his first two years at the IMF as the one the IRS found he made during his last two years there.
Obama's transition team told Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and senior Republican Charles E. Grassley of Iowa of the tax problems in early December,
"These errors were not intentional; they were honest mistakes," Baucus said after the session.
Obama reiterated his support for Geithner.
But some tax experts said the problem is not that common.
"It's such a basic mistake that I kind of wonder if we know all the facts," Ochsenschlager said.
The disclosure calls into question Geithner's ability to multitask and his prior knowledge of the tax code, but it would be hard to fault his judgment or his qualifications, and it really has little bearing on the job he was nominated to do.
Lee says:
So, overall, the consensus seems to be that it was a mistake ... several years running btw. But even if it was a mistake, what fanciful flight of flawed logic says that it has no bearing on the job he is called to do for the Obama administration? +sigh+
`Joe the Plumber,' Who Dislikes Obama Tax Plan, Owes Back Taxes
October 16, 2009
'Joe the plumber,'' the Toledo, Ohio, man whose complaints about Barack Obama's tax plan were featured in the final presidential debate, owes the state of Ohio almost $1,200 in back income taxes.
Lee says:
... Joe the Plumber.
Joe, who was not in charge of anything but his own business and money such as they were.
Joe who was also, btw, not on the verge of being appointed to any government position much less one that would put him in charge of a lot of other people's money.
Oh my gosh. Call Immigration, call the FBI, call the CIA, call the police, call the Pentagon. Joe owed 12 ... (that's twelve) ... hundred dollars in back taxes. That's hundreds, as opposed to the thousands Obama's choice of Treasury Department head owed... owes?
According to records on file with the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, the state filed a tax lien against Samuel J. Wurzelbacher for $1,182.98 on Jan. 26, 2007, that is still active.
Lee says: Without even going into the scornful and derisive things P.E. Obama and his V.P. pick Biden said about Joe the plumber, here is what some bloggers said back then (Linda, MsTaken and Anonymous):
October 16, 2008 2:08 pm
Gee! Maybe John McCain should ask Joe to be his Treasurey Secretary!- linda
October 16, 2008 2:10 pm
Seriously, does the McCain camp know how to vet ANYBODY??? Palin, Timmons... they couldn't even find out the whole story on "Joe the Plumber." Someone should teach them how to Google. Can you imagine if they were in charge of vetting judges, cabinet members or national security personnel in a new administration?
Now THAT's scary. - MsTaken
The article: Joe the Plumber: Not So Good For Small Business After All?
A comment:
Comment by Anonymous - November 4, 2008 at 4:07 pm
to joe the plumber you talk about principles how about you lying about paying your taxes. or do you think that you are above paying your taxes. While my husband who works hard gets slathered by taxes, pays his taxes every year while you feel you are above that. Maybe you should look up the word principles in the dictionary!
Lee says:
Mmm... wonder what linda thinks of the tax cheat Obama asked.
Wonder what MsTaken is imagining now.
Has anonymous written to Mr. Geithner yet?
'Joe the Plumber' pays his tax debt
Saturday, November 8, 2008 3:11 AM
TOLEDO -- "Joe the Plumber" has settled his tax bill.Court documents filed in Toledo on Thursday show that Samuel J. Wurzelbacher paid off his nearly $1,200 tax bill and had a lien lifted.
Lee says:
Here is a recap of what many are saying about Geithner:
it's a mistake - it's an error - he has now quickly addressed the problem by paying them (I'd add "finally" to that statement) - it wouldn't "be reasonable" to derail his nomination over this - it would be hard to "fault his judgment or his qualifications" - "it really has little bearing on the job he was nominated to do"
Ahhh... it's okay for a nominee for head of the Treasury Department to owe thousands of dollars for several years before he pays it. But it's a sin worthy of investigation, castigation, and virtual crucifixion if Joe the plumber owes a couple of hundred dollars for a little over a year and a half... and then pays it. Joe, was not up for any office whatsoever at the time, especially not any office that would put him anywhere near being in charge of the national treasury.
Mmmm.... What's the real difference between these two guys that makes one a villain who should have been jailed or executed, and puts the other into the category of having made a little mistake. It's certainly not the facts or the numbers, so it must be something else. ... ... tick tock tick tock tick tock ... I think I have it. One likes and supports Obama (and seemingly viceversa) and the liberal agenda; the other asked Obama a question that put Obama into a publically uncomfortable position. +shrug+
Mr. Obama had harsh words for Joe the plumber ... and yet in regard to someone who did something far worse than Joe did, he is not so concerned:
Obama: Nominee made "innocent mistake"
"WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama labeled the tax problems of his choice for Treasury chief an embarrassment Wednesday, but said Timothy Geithner's "innocent mistake" shouldn't bar him from the post leading urgent efforts to revive the economy. Despite the controversy, Geithner's confirmation seemed all but sure - though not by Inauguration Day."
Lee says: T. Geitner may still be confirmed despite the fact that what he did was/is much worse and went on for far longer than what Joe the plumber did.
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