Obama’s “change we need” continues to disappoint Obama-voters around the country. His appointee to Treasury secretary was Timothy Geithner, a proven tax-cheat, who is now in charge of the IRS. How logical! However, the media has told us time and time again that it was an “honest mistake.” Oh really? Interesting that they make such a claim for a guilty tax-cheat who is hand selected by their messiah President Obama, but did everything they can to publicly destroy Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacheran, an innocent American bystander, who simply asked one legitimate (but far too challenging) question to Barack during the campaign.

THE US senate finance committee has voted for a tax evader to become Treasury secretary…

Be in no doubt that is what Tim Geithner is. I’m not sure what is more amazing about this case: the virtually free pass he has been given by the media, the toothless opposition of the Republicans or the magnitude of Obama’s first betrayal of his ideals.

In 2006 the Internal Revenue Service discovered that Geithner had not paid he had failed to pay taxes in 2003 and 2004 because he had incorrectly believed they were deducted at source by the IMF, where he had moved after serving the treasury in the Clinton administration. He duly paid about $17,230 in back taxes and interest.

After he was selected to lead the treasury in November, it was discovered as part of his vetting that he owed a further $25,970 for 2001 and 2002 as well. That was the point Obama should have dropped Geithner, instead he has championed him as the only man fit for this major job in dire times.

It is just possible that Geithner, as he claimed, made an honest mistake. But he has yet to provide a proper explanation of why when the IRS told him he was due for 2003 and 2004 he did not then realize that he owed taxes in the two earlier years. At his confirmation hearing, none of the senators asked the question forcefully. Geithner blamed the first mistake on the $30 Turbo Tax software programme he used to file his returns himself, and the second on his accountant

The issue is that foreigners working at the IMF don’t pay taxes, but American citizens do. The IMF raises their salaries in sympathy and expects them to pay the tax themselves. It is all common knowledge among the staff, she said.

Even if we take Mr Geithner at his word that these were “careless mistakes, avoidable mistakes”, does the US really want someone who could make that kind of blunder in charge of the Treasury, and the IRS?

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the transgressions, has done its job. Otherwise, there was been a scant amount criticism in the media. Rush Limbaugh has ranted, the New York Times had one indignant piece, and Jeffrey Klein in the Huffington Post accused Mr Geithner of “serial cheating”.

Several commentators have pointed out that in normal circumstances his failure to pay tax would have been fatal to his appointment. The worry is that it could be normal for Obama to be given too easy a time. [Source]

And the hypocrisy doesn’t end there!

The pot has issued the kettle an ultimatum: tax dodgers beware.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was forced to fork up $34,000 in unpaid back taxes, told the House Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that the Obama administration will be going after people who avoid and evade taxes.

In prepared remarks before Congress, he said the president is intent on “tackling tax shelters and other efforts to abuse our tax laws, including international tax evasion efforts.” [Read more.]

If you still haven’t been convinced that Geithner’s action was anything buy an “honest mistake,” then please, continue reading.

The Senate voted in Tim Geithner, despite the New York Fed chief’s failure to pay $34,000 in taxes. “An honest mistake,” says the White House’s top flack. Oh?

Yes, taxes are a pain and everyone hates the paperwork. And paying taxes is absurdly complicated for employees of the International Monetary Fund, where Geithner worked at the time of his tax problems, because the IMF does not withhold payroll taxes but its employees must still pay them. And the IMF pays them an additional allowance so they can make those payments. On which they also owe taxes. That’s totally confusing, right? Anyone might screw it up.

But Geithener, who has now paid his past-due tax bill, is not just anyone. We would be completely sympathetic to Geithner’s claim that this was a goof because of the IMF’s Byzantine payroll-tax status. Except that Geithner, when he worked at the Treasury Department in 1998, testified before Congress to explain the IMF’s Byzantine payroll-tax status:

Most countries in the world impose tax on the worldwide income of individuals on a residence, rather than citizenship, basis. Thus, non-U.S. nationals employed by the Fund outside of their home countries generally do not pay home country income tax on their Fund incomes. However, the United States taxes its citizens regardless of where they are resident; U.S. staff of the Fund are taxed by the United States on their Fund income regardless of where they are located. Arrangements have been made to reimburse employees for income taxes paid to their home countries to put them on an equal footing with staff who do not have to pay home country tax. Of IMF tax reimbursements, 99.5% go to U.S. staff. These reimbursements represent a transfer from the IMF to the U.S. Treasury. In the absence of tax reimbursement, the actual after-tax Fund income of U.S. staff would fall well below both the pay of other IMF staff (that is not taxed) and the after-tax pay of employees in the U.S. public and private sectors. In such circumstances, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for the Fund to recruit or retain well qualified U.S. staff.

Got all that? The main possibilities this leaves:

• Geithner did not understand the testimony he was delivering to Congress, and thus was innocent but ignorant.
• Geithner understood it at the time, but suffered severe but temporary memory problems when he joined the IMF a few years later.
• Geithner knew exactly what he was doing when he cheated on his taxes, and lied about it.

Not that we have a problem with that! The main thing we need in a Treasury Secretary right now is the ability to completely snow Congress with long, complicated explanations. Ones that leave them incapable of screwing around with President Obama’s attempt to rescue the economy. Go, Geithner, go! [Source]

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