WASHINGTON (AP) – President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to run the Treasury Department and lead the economic rescue effort disclosed publicly Tuesday that he failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004, a last-minute complication in an otherwise smooth path to confirmation.
Timothy Geithner paid most of the past-due taxes days before Obama announced his nomination in November, according to materials released by the Senate Finance Committee. He had paid the remainder of the taxes in 2006, after the IRS sent him a bill.
The still-unpaid taxes were discovered by Obama’s transition team while investigating Geithner’s background.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said he still hoped Geithner could be confirmed on Inauguration Day. Obama’s staff told senators about Geithner’s tax issues Dec. 5.
“These errors were not intentional; they were honest mistakes,” Baucus said after he and other committee members met with Geithner behind closed doors.
Full Story Here:
Treasury nominee says he failed to pay taxes
Honest error or not, taxes being unpaid is NOT what you want to hear from your incoming Secretary of the Treasury.
Geithner also said he didn’t realize a housekeeper he paid in 2004 and 2005 did not have current employment documentation as an immigrant for the final three months she worked for him, the documents indicated.
And this just begs the question, don’t the Obama people fully VET these guys?? For crying out loud, Bill Richardson has withdrawn, the indirect connection to Rod Blagojevich.
Is this what we can expect from the Obama administration?? Scratch that, totally rhetorical.
What the hell was I thinking??
But, Fred. They DID vet this guy.
They made absolutely dead certain that he was against you and me owning guns. That made him qualified.
Just like Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder and everyone one else he’s picking.
Gee, Fred. You expect them to meet the important qualification AND be capable of doing their job? That’s asking too much!
It’s certainly more than Obama was ever asked to do.
Fred:
What appalls me these days is NOT the “apparent” aberration of what ALL these people are doing (gotta say both (R) and (D) alike), it’s that WE…remember WE the PEOPLE are just sitting out here with our mouths hanging wide open stating WTF!!!
I’m only 46, and I know you Fred are a half generation older than me. I’m just SORRY all those “younger” years I had I DIDN’T TAKE this all so seriously, as I’m living to see a dual generation of BULLSHIT come to fruition.
The things I hear on the news, the things I hear Obama say, the things I see my government do right in front of me are making me quiver with astonishment! HOW CAN IT BE? Well, it’s become and we all know that drastic atrocities take YEARS to unravel most times…but these are strange times.
I know this when I have counseled young folk I try to preach Conservatisim to, and I get a TRULY EXCITED e-mail from one that tells me…Hey…they’re finally listening to you. People are FINALLY GETTING what you are saying…it CAN’T keep on like it’s going…HERE’S THE PROOF…
And I get THIS SNL video! Unfortunately, our country HAS NO CLUE! YES…funny will always be funny…but when YOU THINK THIS IS CONSERVATIVE? Folks, buckle up for a LONG RIDE!
Folks cannot anymore distinguish “funny” from “real”. This video was funny, but for someone to think this means “someone” grasps Conservatism made me sad.
There was NO END and NO SOLUTION…even though SNL TRIED to pretend a moment on “our side of the fence”. The typical “new” solution = zero!
“CLICK HERE to see SNL video
Perhaps Barama believed BECAUSE he paid no taxes he was MORE qualified for the treasury. . .
BZ
Crook at Treasury, Socialist/Marxist as Global Warming Czar?
Sounds like business as usual in the DNC and Washington DC.
Harry Reid says it’s no big deal – can you imagine the ruckus if this was a Republican?
If it had been a Repub, Reid would be dancing in the aisles, Pelosi would be orgasmic and the hypocrisy of the MSM would have once again totally overlooked the transgressions of the Dems as they castigate Dem Lite on the behalf of the Libbers…
Dingy Harry Reid called this a “hiccup”.