I'm not inclined to crucify nominee Geithner over his tax deficiencies.
But these "experts" are simply lying sacks.
"This is a very discrete issue,” said Michael Lloyd, an employment tax lawyer at Miller & Chevalier. “If you’re not a payroll tax lawyer, you’re not immersed in this, you are probably not getting it at first blush.”
My foot.
Ask computer consultants, or business consultants who work as freelancers. There's no mystery at all: your client pays you a fee, and YOU HAVE TO PAY THE TAXES.
Making that lawyer's argument even more shaky is this:
Geithner did his own taxes in 2001 and 2002. An accountant did them in 2003 and 2004
Who are these "experts" trying to kid? Are they telling us that an "accountant" missed that, too?
Puh leeeeeeeeze.
“Usually, all this stuff is taken out of your paycheck, so this particular arrangement is unusual,” said George Yin, a tax professor at the University of Virginia Law School and former chief of staff for the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
Mr. Yin is an ignoramus. Calling self-employment "unusual" is ludicrous on its face--there are several million self-employed people in this country who know all about the laws and regs. They have to. U of Va. should re-examine Mr. Yin's tenure.
More:
The IMF requires employees to fill out an annual tax allowance request worksheet to get the extra income, and gives employees both a personnel manual and quarterly and year-end wage statements detailing their tax obligations. While Geithner signed the statement, he still failed to pay up.
How "immersed" does one have to be, Mr. "Tax Attorney" Lloyd, to read a year-end statement?
And here's the smoking gun:
In 2006, the IRS audited Geithner’s 2003 and 2004 returns and charged him accordingly. But Geithner didn’t pay his 2001 and 2002 back taxes until the Obama transition team that vetted him brought the oversight to his attention
"Confused" and "ignorant"?
Nope.
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2 comments:
The credibility for me is lost on the "he did his own taxes" bit. Yes, and for $40 you could have a program that does all of those calculations for you.
The press crucified (more like attempted until they were reminded of his war injuries) on the fact that he didn't use PCs...oh how out of touch he was. Now Geithner is soooooooo smart he's the only guy who can fix this...but he can't figure out how to use a PC to do his own taxes....who's out of touch?
By the way, I don't remember Wesley Snipes being able to make the "my accountant said so" defense keep him from accountability including in his case, jail time.
This is all such a load of horse manure. Like the Clinton nominees who didn't pay social security taxes or check green card status on domestic employees, we're supposed to believe they simply 'forgot', 'didn't know' or were 'too busy' to be law-abiding...?
And these are supposed to be the best and brightest who can lead in government? It smacks of people claiming 'celebrity status' - "those things are not for me but for you little people."
Give me a break!
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