The True Disciple of Saul Alinsky

By Patrick J. Buchanan 

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's opening bid to Speaker John Boehner, a demand for $1.6 trillion in new taxes, was not meant as a serious offer. It was an ultimatum couched in an insult. Translation:

"We won the election. We have the whip hand. Not only are you going to sign on to higher tax rates and higher tax revenues, we are going to rub your Tea Party noses in your coming capitulation."

That Boehner did not throw the offer back in Geithner's face and tell him, "Give me a call, Tim, when you're serious," suggests that the speaker feels he is holding a losing hand.

Geithner Tax Debt Forgiven; Car Wash Owes 4 Cents

"We're from the government and ..."

From Fox News

A California car wash owner says he’s rather amused after two Internal Revenue Service agents visited his business to demand he pay a debt – of four cents.

"I come to work, and my manager says, you're not going to believe this. A couple of IRS agents just came in here demanding payment for back taxes," Aaron Zeff told Fox 40 KTXL Sacramento. "I looked at the letter and I couldn't believe what I saw. The number was astonishing. Four cents."

But with late fees on those pennies and penalties dating back to 2006, Zeff says the taxman now wants to collect a total $202.35, the TV station reported.

Zeff’s attorney told Fox 40 that Harv's Car Wash always pays its taxes and “never had any issues like this come up.” Zeff said he would have paid the amount owed if he had been notified, but he said the only notice he received from the agency was a letter saying he had filed his returns and didn't owe any more money.

Still, in the event the attorney can’t sort this all out, Zeff's customers have been more than happy to pitch in to help, Harv's Car Wash cashier Ana Makhely told Fox 40.

"Oh, it's been hilarious. People have been coming, like, would you like four cents? Help you out with your little bills," she said.

Massachusetts Dem to Geithner: "Stinks to High Heaven"

Reprsentative Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA):

"It makes me doubt your commitment to the American people." ... "I think the commitment to Goldman Sachs trumped the responsibility that our officials had to the American people."

Maxine Waters Raises Questions about Obama, Geithner and Dodd

California Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, is raising questions about President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner with regard to the AIG bonus debate.

In an exclusive interview on The Joe Scarborough Show on WABC in New York, Waters says, “They’ve got some explaining to do. The President is going to have to clarify to the American public what took place between Treasury and Mr. Dodd…there appears to have been some kind of agreement that they would protect AIG from having to give those bonuses.” To hear the interview in its entirety click here.

Why Geithner and Rangel Matter

From American Thinker

By C. Edmund Wright

The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. Treasury Secretary are literally the two highest ranking political figures with regard to the Internal Revenue Service. If any two people on the planet should set an example in their tax behavior, it is the two people who hold those positions and anyone who aspires to them.

Inspired by their recent behavior, I left a question on my corporate accountant's voice mail today. "Jim, I just want to know if I can simply pay taxes just the way the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee OR the incoming Secretary of the Treausurer pay them?"

He laughed, and replied "of course... as long as you don't mind doing some time." Well, this explains why we go to great pains to make sure our company is in compliance while preserving as much of our business capital as possible each and every year

Charles Rangel and Timothy Geithner are apparently somewhat more casual about tax compliance, taking hypocrisy and irony to new levels in the process.

As the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rangel is literally the most influential member of Congress related to taxing and spending. As we found out in September, Rangel decided that he was above paying taxes on rental income on some houses he owned in the Dominican Republic

And as we found out days ago, the man appointed by Barack Obama to run the Treasury Department -- of which the IRS is a major part -- has also considered himself above the tax laws that haunt the rest of us.

Please understand these two people will have tremendous influence on how our tax laws are written and that they will expect every damned one of us to follow that 66 thousand page tax code to the letter. Or as Joe Biden would say, they expect us to "be patriotic" and to do so accurately.

Which makes the excuses rendered by Rangel jaw dropping. These are exuses I would not recommend you try at home. Look at some of the explanation from Rangel and his attorney Lanny Davis (along with some comments.)

"Mr. Davis said the congressman did not realize he had to declare the money as income, and was unaware of the semiannual payments from the resort because his wife, Alma, handled the family finances and conferred with their accountant, John Viardi, on tax matters." (New York Times, September 5).

Yeah, right. Let you or me try to claim the ignorant wife and accountant as a defense to the IRS.

"While I now know is [sic] although I had not personally received proceeds in cash, the fact that [sic] any reduction of the mortgage actually counted as income and should have been reported as such." (Rangel news conference, September 10)

Well yes, it should. It is called "taxable income," an understanding that should not escape the man who wants to dictate tax policy for the rest of us.

"I personally feel that I have done nothing morally wrong."

I am sure that will go a long way with IRS agents. By the way, just how low is your bar for "morally wrong."

Geithner, meanwhile, has few public comments on his issue to date, perhaps because one of his two problems is inexcusable and any comment will simply make the PR problem worse. While working for the International Monetary Fund, Geithner failed to pay taxes even though the IMF "grossed up" his pay to actually give him the money with which to pay his taxes. They also attached a stub that showed exactly what his pay was including how much had been grossed up (let me help you Obama voters or potential cabinet members: this means it showed exactly what taxes he owed on that particular income.) I mean, this was not complicated.

Not only that, but Geithner himself prepared his own tax returns for several of the years where this underpayment was made. Bottom line: He either is not capable of handling a rather pedestrian income statement for tax purposes or he flat out cheated. Frankly, I am not sure that either explanation gives me the utmost confidence in the "only man smart enough to understand the TARP" program. Based on his tax return, how can we be sure he even understands the business impact of "depreciation recapture" let alone "credit default swap."

Then again, he was appointed by the man who lost an impromptu debate on basic tax policy to a plumber from Ohio, clearly demonstrating an ignorance of what a capital gains tax is in the process.

Charlie Rangel. Tim Geithner. Barney "Fannie Mae" Frank. Chris "Countrywide" Dodds. Rahm Emanuel. And Barack Obama. And so on.

We have been told that these are the people who are going to lead our economy out of the Bush imposed wilderness and to the Promised Land. These are the people who will end the Republican's "culture of corruption" and "era of special interests" in Washington and clean things up. These people represent hope and change.

I think we can look at this and easily understand why the stock market is tanking. We can figure out how, for the second month in a row, the jobless report "stunned the experts." Investors and business owners do not live in the make believe world of Washington and its political gamesmanship. These people have skin in the game. These people suffer when they make bad decisions, and they are en masse deciding that to "take their ball and go home" as the only prudent decision. That's why people are dumping stocks and laying off employees.

When the people who make the rules are either too ignorant to understand their own rules or feel entitled to break them, the allure of playing is simply gone for the rest of us. Apparently, more than half the voters have no understanding of this concept. And no amount of bail-outs will change that.

Two Cabinet Appointments, One Double Standard

The hypocrisy of many liberal Democrats and their Amen Chorus in the media is never more apparent than when a new administration is staffing up.

Eight years ago, President Bush nominated Linda Chavez for Secretary of Labor. She would have been the first Hispanic woman to serve in a President's cabinet. She had previously worked for the American Federation of Teachers and was a close associate of that union's iconic leader, Albert Shanker. However, she had subsequently served in the administrations of Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and her appointment as Labor Secretary in 2001 was bitterly opposed by big labor.

A national scandal erupted when, on the speculation of a neighbor, it was suggested that Chavez had illegally employed Marta Mercado, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, and had failed to pay employer withholding taxes. Because of a storm of Congressional opposition, Chavez eventually withdrew her nomination. It was later established by an FBI investigation that Chavez was providing safe-haven for a victim of domestic abuse, had given her money, but had never employed the woman. Mercado and others familiar with the situation all confirmed that Chavez had acted as a good Samaritan.

Now we have in Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, a man who did not pay self-employment taxes for several years, even though he had acknowledged his obligation to do so. He also failed to maintain the immigration status of a housekeeper who had worked for him. Although he earned $398,200 in 2007, he only settled a $34,000 debt to the IRS last November when it became clear that he was under consideration to be the nation's chief financial officer.

What is the response of Congressional leaders? Are they waiting to see how he explains the problem in Senate confirmation hearings scheduled for January 21? Hardly.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has already announced that Geithner "will clearly be confirmed" by the Senate. No need to wait for any explanations, background investigations, or committee hearings; the matter has already been decided.

Do you think that when the nation has a scofflaw Treasury Secretary, the IRS will let you owe $34,000 over the course of years? This isn't change one can believe in; it's just the same old double standard.