Subscribe to Radio Vice OnlineNews FeedSubscribe to Radio Vice OnlineComments

Browse > Home / Economics / Other than Taxes … Uniquely Qualified. Update: Vote Monday

Other than Taxes … Uniquely Qualified. Update: Vote Monday

January 21, 2009 at 5:09 pm by Jim Vicevich  
Filed under Economics

Leave a comment
E-mail Post E-mail Post

Update: The Senate Finance Committee has approved the Tim Geithner nomination and now the Senate expects to vote on the nomination on Monday … it is a done deal.

The committee approved the nomination on an 18-5 vote, sending it to the full Senate. President Barack Obama is hoping for quick approval so that the point man for the administration’s economic rescue effort can begin work.

The committee vote came a day after Geithner appeared before the panel to apologize for what he called “careless mistakes” in failing to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier in the decade, when he worked at the International Monetary Fund.

He failed to pay his self employment taxes … repeatedly, despite being warned by his employer, the IMF, and receiving compensatory payment for them. In addition he was caught taking deductions for items that are not deductible. Today … Tim Geithner told folks … hey sorry. But, at least for me, the words rang hollow.

Still … is this the best we can do? I am not the only one asking.

Uniquely qualified? Meaning that Geithner’s the only person in America who can run the Treasury?  Somehow, I find that extraordinarily difficult to believe. If for some reason Geithner withdrew, would Obama not fill the role with someone else? It’s more difficult to believe that a man who couldn’t figure out his own taxes is the best-qualified man for the job.

It’s a good post … read it all.

Related posts

Liked this post?

Subscribe to the RSS feed and post some good comments! You can also share on Facebook or Twitter right now!

Tags: ,

Trackbacks

Check out what others are saying about this post...
  1. Hope and Change Scorecard | Radio Vice Online says:
    January 25, 2009 at 11:03 am

    [...] as the Feds investigate what role he may have played in a pay for play scandal, his new Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, the man who overseas the IRS, slides through on party lines after its revealed he failed to pay [...]



Comments

Responses to “Other than Taxes … Uniquely Qualified. Update: Vote Monday”
  1. Mark says:
    January 21, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    Not qualified… and should be prosecuted.

  2. Wyndeward says:
    January 21, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    What is the old saw??

    “Well, gee… Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?”

  3. Erik from WH says:
    January 21, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    We can not afford to have a treas. sec. that makes careless, avoidable mistakes. Regardless of the intention.

    Please ask yourself why this guys gets confirmed? This system is crooked and corrupt. All of these elected officials are conspiring against us. I am really starting to believe this.

    -Erik

  4. Dimsdale says:
    January 21, 2009 at 8:55 pm

    We have two choices: 1) he is stupid enough to fail to pay basic taxes that the average ordinary Joe pays without fanfare, even with written and acknowledged warnings; or 2) he is so corrupt that he arrogantly believed that he could get away with not paying his self employment taxes and claiming tax deductions that he was clearly and unambiguously not entitled to collect.

    Gee.  I don’t see either circumstances as qualifying him to collect tolls on the highway, much less lead the Treasury Department.

    Given the recent performance of our elected “representatives,” I can see why they think he is so qualified: compared to charlatans like Dodd and Frank, a piggy bank has more economic sense and ability.  That or this is a fall guy for them.

    • emgee says:
      January 22, 2009 at 10:44 am

      I think Tim Geithner’s apology, that the tax mistakes he made were “unintentional”, is a bit lame!  I’ve used TurboTax as a self-employed filer for the last nine years and it has been my experience that you would have to “game” the software to override the SE tax calculation.  Then to say that a tax professional prepared his ‘03 and ‘04 returns, and he too made the same mistake leads me to wonder which income documents did Geithner “unintentional” NOT give to the preparer?  Seems to me that the IMF statements that Geithner signed made it pretty clear that SE taxes were due, and that he was being comped-up specifically to pay those taxes.

      Based on the above, I’m compelled to believe that Geithner is lying, and those that are attempting to “cover” for him are lying too! 

  5. Bill says:
    January 21, 2009 at 9:32 pm

    Maybe we should hope he can change into an honest person?

  6. Terry W says:
    January 22, 2009 at 10:57 am

    This kind of “error” the “Regular Joes” understand.  After all, they have to pay their taxes, and know what would happen to them if they did this kind of thing.  I have hopes the Senate may have to let this guy go. 

  7. emgee says:
    January 23, 2009 at 8:41 am

    Last night, on one of the discussion panels (FoxBusiness Channel?), it was stqated that Tim Geithner had paid his back taxes with interest, but paid no penalty.  Now isn’t that nice!  Without further confirmation, I have to assume that some type of negotiation took place between Geithner’s lawyers and the IRS.  Did any of this come out in the Senate Comfirmation Hearings?……no!  Special treatment perhaps for the Treasury’s head guy?

    I can assure you that the last  (and only) time I had any direct one-on-one dealings with the local IRS office, I was lied to, abused, and threatened until I paid the full amount  the IRS deemed I owed.  It was not a pleasant experience.  A negotiated deal…..don’t make me laugh; was never in the cards.

  8. herb094 says:
    January 23, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    It is amazing how times change. Remember Zoey and Kimba forced to remove themselves for consideration to be Attorney General because of problems, taxes and status of nannies in their employment if memory serves correctly. Now Geithner gets appointed to run the Treasury even though he had issues with not paying taxes. Looks  like a double standard to me.

  9. Wayne SW says:
    January 23, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    We are missing a key point on this topic.  With hope and change, Geithner will go down the change road.  Not paying a penalty for late tax payment, this is merely VIP treatment, similar to Dodd.

    We are trying to hold our leaders to standards that they are not familiar with.  To them, this is business as usual.

  10. madison says:
    January 24, 2009 at 8:11 am

    I would like to see somebody from the private sector in that post.  It should be someone who has a track record of fiscal responsibility, along with a proven track record of successfully and responsibly managing a finite amount of resources.  Criminals need not apply.