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Post by xtra on Jan 13, 2009 15:27:36 GMT -6
Timothy Geithner Housekeeper Status Unchecked, Taxes Unpaid :AP
WASHINGTON — Treasury secretary designee Timothy Geithner is meeting with senators to discuss why he failed to pay personal taxes and check the immigration status of a housekeeper.
An official with President-elect Barack Obama's transition office says Geithner (GYT ner) answered senators' questions during a meeting he requested Tuesday. The person requested anonymity because the source is not authorized to speak publicly on Geithner's situation.
Obama's transition team was expected to release a statement about the issue later Tuesday.
Obama named the 47-year-old Geithner as his pick for Treasury secretary in November, citing as a top priority tackling the nation's financial crisis.
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Post by db on Jan 13, 2009 18:31:49 GMT -6
This is most amusing. Congress can get all worked up about this; but when it comes to high crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush administration, well not so much. America will not be restored, until this criminal culture is repealed.
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Post by graybeard on Jan 13, 2009 19:09:16 GMT -6
Wasn't it Nannygate, the candidate for appointment to something several years ago? The woman ended up withdrawing, because her nanny was an illegal.
Chertoff's domestic help was found to have illegals, too, just recently.
rdr
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Post by xtra as guest on Jan 14, 2009 1:26:31 GMT -6
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Treasury pick failed to pay self-employment taxes By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE Associated Press Writer
Posted: 01/13/2009 01:42:23 PM MST Updated: 01/13/2009 10:10:16 PM MST
WASHINGTON—President-elect Barack Obama's choice to run the Treasury Department and lead the nation's economic rescue failed to pay $34,000 in taxes from 2001 to 2004, but the last-minute disclosure didn't stop Senate Democrats from moving forward with his nomination.
Timothy Geithner had paid some of the back taxes in 2006 after the IRS sent him a bill. When the Obama transition team discovered he owed even more back taxes, Geithner paid those additional taxes days before Obama announced his choice in November, according to materials released by the Senate Finance Committee considering his nomination.
Obama's staff told senators about the tax issues on Dec. 5.
Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said he still hoped Geithner could be confirmed on Inauguration Day, asking senators for unanimous consent to skirt rules and schedule a hearing as early as Friday.
"These errors were not intentional; they were honest mistakes," Baucus said after he and other committee members met with Geithner behind closed doors on Tuesday.
It was not clear Tuesday whether committee Republicans would sign off on Baucus' request for a quick hearing.
The panel's senior Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, hasn't decided whether the revelations are reason enough to oppose Geithner, said spokeswoman Jill Kozeny. He believes they are "serious, and whether or not it's disqualifying is to be determined," she said.
Another prominent Republican, however, spoke up for Geithner. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, another committee member, said he continues to support the nominee.
"I have no problem," Hatch told Fox News. "He's a very, very competent guy."
After senators met with Geithner, the panel released 30 pages of documents detailing his tax errors—and also how he came to employ a housekeeper whose legal immigrant work status had briefly lapsed in 2005.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dismissed the events as "a few little hiccups," and said he was "not concerned at all" about the impact.
Obama reiterated his support for Geithner.
"He's dedicated his career to our country and served with honor, intelligence and distinction," incoming White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "That service should not be tarnished by honest mistakes, which, upon learning of them, he quickly addressed."
Geithner, plucked from his job as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to serve as Obama's treasury secretary, told transition officials and senators that he didn't know he owed self-employment taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund.
He failed to pay self-employment taxes for money he earned 2001 to 2004 while working for the IMF, according to materials released by the Senate committee. In 2006, the IRS notified him that he owed $14,847 in self-employment taxes and $1,885 in interest from 2003 and 2004, which he paid after an audit. The IRS waived penalties for those tax years.
Transition officials discovered last fall that Geithner also had not paid the taxes in 2001 or 2002. He paid $19,176 in back taxes and $6,794 in interest for 2001 and 2002 several days before Obama announced his choice, the committee documents showed. All told, Geithner had failed to pay $34,023 in self-employment taxes for the years 2001 to 2004.
Geithner and his supporters have said his mistake was a common one for people hired by international organizations that don't pay the employer share of Social Security taxes. The IRS estimated in 2007 that as many as half those employees had made tax-filing mistakes, and offered a group settlement to let them correct the errors. Geithner told Obama's team and senators that an accountant had reviewed his tax returns after Geithner prepared them and didn't discover the problem.
But some tax experts said the problem is not that common.
Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of tax for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, said it would be difficult for someone preparing a tax return for a self-employed person to skip the Social Security and Medicare tax lines.
"It's such a basic mistake that I kind of wonder if we know all the facts," Ochsenschlager said of Geithner's situation.
Geithner filed amended tax returns for 2001 through 2006 after Obama's team reviewed his records.
The committee's materials said Geithner "has experience with Social Security tax issues." He filed the taxes late for his household employees in 1996 for years 1993 to 1995; he incorrectly calculated Medicare taxes for his household employees in 1998 and received an IRS notice; and he received notices from the Social Security Administration and the IRS after not filing 2003 and 2004 forms for his household employees, the report states.
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.
One of his housekeepers' legal authorization to work in the United States expired on July 15, 2005, and the person continued to work for Geithner until October of that year, the committee's report states.
Geithner is the second Obama Cabinet choice to face controversy. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his name on Jan. 4 as Obama's commerce secretary after questions surfaced about a federal investigation concerning contributions and a state contract.
Geithner's tax problem was at least the second time such a situation has touched an Obama appointee. Nancy Killefer, the management consultant selected last week to become the new administration's chief performance officer, failed to pay unemployment compensation taxes, apparently on household employees. In 2005, the District of Columbia placed a $946.69 tax lien on her home over the unpaid taxes. Over a year and a half, she had failed to pay $298 in taxes plus the rest in interest and penalties, and she cleared up the debt within a few months.
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Post by graybeard on Jan 14, 2009 10:33:31 GMT -6
If he's competent, then he's a crook. . Is that the best we have?
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Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jan 14, 2009 19:34:26 GMT -6
It does seem like the guy who's going to be running the Treasury Dept, which oversees the IRS, should at least be paying the taxes he should be paying. And, at minimum, once his one mistake about not paying taxes was pointed out to him, he ought to immediately try to fix the other mistakes he'd made earlier.
I can see how the status of his nanny might have changed without his knowledge. But taxes are a different story. How can we have the nation's chief financial officer not even know what the tax rules are in the department he's about to head?
Geithner should withdraw his own name, and not force Obama to ask him to do so.
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Post by judes on Jan 14, 2009 20:28:26 GMT -6
Wow, it's one depressing news item after another. The bombardment of bad news is almost numbing. (Maybe that's the intention) There is no way this guy should get the job to head the Treasury! If I did something like this it would surely go on my credit check when applying for a job and I'm sure I would be rejected for any non essential role. It is just sickening the level of corruption. Why is it these people feel they are above the law, or above paying taxes? How do people like this keep getting positions of power? If this guy has any shred of dignity he would withdraw immediately!! How do you make an "honest mistake" of not paying your taxes?? Sounds similar to the "honest mistake" Madoff made of sending out million dollar jewels as Christmas presents. Why is it when people in positions of power commit crimes it is an honest mistake, but if a person like me did it I would be jailed.
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Post by xtra on Jan 14, 2009 21:23:08 GMT -6
Why is it when people in positions of power commit crimes it is an honest mistake, but if a person like me did it I would be jailed. we are finally getting it. they are criminals ;D
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Post by agito on Jan 15, 2009 15:39:03 GMT -6
here's why we shouldn't have geitner. When he's faced with a problem- he avoids it. When he's faced with a tough situation- he cuts corners. In other words - he's incapable of solving problems.
fuck him. sickening to hear the apologists on the Ed Schulz show (thankfully ed schulz is calling him out)
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Post by db on Jan 15, 2009 20:33:05 GMT -6
America is a criminal nation. The Criminal Bush put the finishing touch on our criminal culture. Unless you support the intermittent of Bush, Cheney, Delay, and others; you are complicit. If Bush is not brought to justice, why would anyone expect a restoration of America.
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