UPDATE: This isn't the first time Daschle has run into tax problems. Long-time readers of this blog will recall Daschle taking advantage of the homestead tax exemption in 2003 when he purchased a home in Washington D.C., which caught the attention of bloggers and reporters (see here, here, here, and here for Mansiongate; also see Jon Lauck's Daschle Vs. Thune, pp. 177-178). Thune also challenged Daschle to release his tax returns between 1999 and 2003, which Thune made publicly available during the campaign. Daschle never made these records available, and the South Dakota press never challenged the former Senator to release them (despite David Kranz praising Daschle in 1982, while working at the Mitchell Daily Republic, for releasing his tax returns during his run for the House of Representatives).
Obama was elected on the platform of promising to oppose corruption and fraud in Washington D.C., yet in the last week who high level cabinet appointees have had ethical issues. Who else in the Obama administration will be either too incompetent or dishonest to declare their income and pay their taxes?
UPDATE II: Here's more on Daschle's past tax problems.
Original post follows:
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Associated Press: "Republican and Democratic senators on Sunday questioned how former Sen. Tom Daschle could make a $128,203 mistake on his taxes but said they were not prepared to oppose his nomination as health secretary."
Also note this: "Former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle waited nearly a month after being nominated to be secretary of health and human services before informing President Obama that he had not paid years of back taxes, the Washington Post reports.”
And, finally, Tom Maguire writes:
He became concerned in June? Call it Uncanny Coincidence, but it was early June when Hillary conceded and it became crystal-clear that Obama would be the Democratic nominee. And since Daschle had been an early and important Obama supporter, it also became clear that Daschle himself might need to start thinking about his possible role in a Obama administration.
As to the idea that it took his accountant six months to resolve these questions, please - is this the sort of glacial progress we can expect as Daschle oversees the transformation of the US health care system? For any Democrats out there not familiar with the process by which the rest of us pay our taxes, most returns are filed by April 15; summertime is the slow season and one would hope that as important a person as Tom Daschle could have gotten an answer promptly, if he had so desired. In fact, Daschle only got his answer after he had been tapped for a post requiring Senate confirmation; if Daschle had gotten the nod for a consigliere spot in the White House, I have no doubt his accountant would still be researching this.
Let’s recap for folks who are having trouble keeping up - Geithner, our new Treasury Secretary and overseer of the IRS, learned by way of a 2006 IRS audit that he had a tax problem for 2001 through 2004, but relied on the three year statute of limitations to avoid payment on the 2001 and 2002 liabilities; he resolved these only after his nomination in late 2008.
Daschle “became concerned” last June but dragged his feet on resolving the issue until after he had been nominated to a post requiring Senate confirmation.
Be sure to read the whole thing.
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