“I think what’s serious here is the fact that our banks are collapsing. Citicorp is crashing. We have record unemployment.
We have in Geithner a guy with amazing experience, extremely smart, who has been in every crisis over the weakness in 2008, all the rescues. He is a man who inspires confidence in our economy, which is what it is really lacking. And to sink his nomination over what I think is a triviality is simply unserious. Our crisis is too strong, too big, and his is too much of an asset to deny him office over unpaid taxes, which in the end he refunded and repented.”
From what I have read, the tax issue was relatively minor. He was working for the IMF and as an international institution some of the taxes he should have been paying weren’t automatically being taken out of his paycheck. But once it was discovered, they were repaid.
I am glad to hear that. I hope all this “good will” continues on both sides. The last thing we need right now is nasty partisanship or time wasted on non-issues.
From what I have read, the tax issue was relatively minor. He was working for the IMF and as an international institution some of the taxes he should have been paying weren’t automatically being taken out of his paycheck. But once it was discovered, they were repaid.
Geithner’s a tax cheat. Plain and simple.
You are giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt. It had to do with payroll taxes–the portion your employer pays. The IMF pays its US employees extra to specifically cover these taxes. And the US employees receive quarterly statements telling them what they owe. They also sign multiple forms that they understand they need to pay the payroll taxes.
He was busted for his 2003 & 2004 tax returns in 2006. But he had made the same ‘mistake’ in 2001 & 2002 (IRS can apparently only go back 3 years). Yet he did not file amended returns until this past November when he was contacted by the Obama camp. He unequivocally knew for two years that he owed the money!
Two options here: 1. he’s a tax cheat or 2. sheer utter incompetence with a lack of attention to detail. Neither inspires confidence.
From what I have read, the tax issue was relatively minor. He was working for the IMF and as an international institution some of the taxes he should have been paying weren’t automatically being taken out of his paycheck. But once it was discovered, they were repaid.
Geithner’s a tax cheat. Plain and simple.
You are giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt. It had to do with payroll taxes–the portion your employer pays. The IMF pays its US employees extra to specifically cover these taxes. And the US employees receive quarterly statements telling them what they owe. They also sign multiple forms that they understand they need to pay the payroll taxes.
He was busted for his 2003 & 2004 tax returns in 2006. But he had made the same ‘mistake’ in 2001 & 2002 (IRS can apparently only go back 3 years). Yet he did not file amended returns until this past November when he was contacted by the Obama camp. He unequivocally knew for two years that he owed the money!
Two options here: 1. he’s a tax cheat or 2. sheer utter incompetence with a lack of attention to detail. Neither inspires confidence.
Cosign.
At first I was fine with Geithner’s selection, but when his tax mess came out I changed my mind. I mean how can we have the head of the IRS be a tax cheat. If he gets confirmed I will be disgusted and will really think about moving to another country.
To me it’s a question of character. He knew the right thing to do was to pay the taxes when they were due and failed to do it numerous times. It was not until the Obama transition team discovered he hadn’t done this, at which point Geithner paid up.
He had 4 years to do the right thing…
"Geithner was, as were others, presented a form to sign acknowledging that he got the money and was responsible for paying the taxes. Geithner signed but he didn’t pay the taxes … until in 2006, when the IRS conducted a routine audit of his tax returns for the last two years that he worked at the IMF and discovered the error. Then Geithner paid up for those last two years. He now understood, did he not, that he had made a mistake?
So, did he voluntarily go back to the first two years that the IRS had not audited and file amended returns and pay up for those two years?
No, not a bit of it. It was the Obama transition team that discovered he hadn’t done this, at which point Geithner paid up once again."
So why would we cut him any slack? Because he’s Obama’s boy? He has shown his character and just like Richardson he should be bounced.