Thursday, February 05, 2009

Taxing My Patience

Status: nomination confirmed.
  • Tom Daschle --  Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Failed to fully pay taxes for 2005 through 2007. Last month he paid $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest. On Monday of this week, Obama said that he "absolutely" stood by Daschle's nomination. The next day Obama admitted that he "screwed up." 
Status: nomination withdrawn. 
Status: today's scheduled nomination hearing has been cancelled.
Status: nomination withdrawn.

And it's not just Obama's nominees. Long-serving Democrats are being exposed, as well. the most egregious violator:
  • Charles Rangel -- Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Reportedly, the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation identified 28 instances where he failed to report "acquiring, owning, or disposing of assets" worth between $239,026 and $831,000. JWF comments: "One wonders how Charlie Rangel avoided an Obama cabinet appointment." 
Status: under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) said it best: 
"It's easy for the other side to advocate for higher taxes because, you know what?, they don't pay them"
I assume that Obama searched for the best and brightest people from his party to nominate for cabinet positions. Can't he find anyone who has actually paid all of their taxes? What do these faulty nominations say about his vetting process? And why is it that some leaders of the Democrat party, people who love to raise taxes, completely disregard paying them?

I'm sick of hypocritical politicians/entertainers (same thing?) telling me how I should behave, while they flaunt every rule they profess to love. Global warming, paying taxes. These people are shameless. Especially Rangel, who is the Chairman of the committee that writes tax policy! Brazenly evading the rules he took part in creating. How does he justify ignoring his own laws? If any average citizen did what these people have done, they'd have their wages garnished and/or be sitting in jail. It's outrageous.

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