(From Samspolitics.com) Tom Daschle is the 2nd Obama cabinet nominee who did not pay his full share of taxes. As a result, Daschle has dropped out as potential Secretary of Health and Human Services, a significant position in the Obama administration, in charge of overhauling healthcare. The other was Timothy Geithner, who was just approved as Secretary of the Treasury, despite his tax problems. Obama's judgement should be called into question after these two botched nominations, because Geithner and Daschle were either too incompetent to figure out how much taxes they owed, or worse, they intentionally decieved the IRS.
This story is very ironic in two ways. First, assuming Daschle and Geithner did not intentionally withhold money, one must wonder how the Federal Government expects regular citizens to figure out how much money they owe in taxes, when the people who legislate those laws cannot figure it out themselves! The tax laws are extremely complex and outdated. In addition, it is almost comical that two members of the Democratic party did not pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes owed to the government. After all, the Democrats are the party of higher taxes, especially for the top earners, a group which Geithner and Daschle are surely a part of, and thus when top Democratic Officials do not pay their taxes it comes off as a little hypocritical. If Geithner and Dachle do not want to pay nearly half of their income to the government, then they should lobby for lower taxes, like Republicans!
