Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Lex Bovis, Non Jovis (The law is for the cattle, not the Gods)

You pay your taxes. I pay my taxes. If we don't, eventually the IRS comes after us.

But there is apparently a long list of incredibly dedicated, highly qualified people with lengthy distinguished careers in public service who have trouble with this duty of citizenship.

Let us not forget that none other than VP Joe Biden, has proclaimed it the duty of Americans, especially the richer ones, to pay more taxes in times of hardship.

First we had Geithner who didn't realize that the IMF wasn't paying his social security and medicare taxes for him, even though they didn't withhold anything and threw in extra cash for him to handle the employer contributions.

Next, Tom Daschle, didn't realize he needed to pay taxes on a car and driver provided for him by Intermedia advisors, even though he has a seat on this company's advisory board. He owed $128,000 to the government. Not very patriotic, Tommy.

Finally, Nancy Killefer, who probably watched this circus with increasing horror, withdrew herself from consideration as Chief Performance Officer after the DC government filed a lien on her house. She didn't pay the employment taxes on her household help.

Isn't this a little strange? I know the tax code is complicated, but shouldn't these folks hire good accountants? Or maybe they think they don't have to.

1 comments:

Atom Smasher said...

Now, I just got nicked by the IRS for a goof on my 2007 return. They reviewed it and apparently it wasn't working so well for them so they asked me to reconsider. It took me, a pretty bright guy, 2 weeks to figure out what old records I needed, dig them up, line them up, tally the numbers, and figure out which of the four allowable methods of calculating long-term capital gains was possible for my non-CPA mind.

I'm not saying that the latest round of Democrat cabinet and senate candidates are excusable, after all they can afford much better tax preparers than I can, but I *am* saying that this is solid evidence that our current tax code is stupid.

I am willing to bet a pizza that none of these guys intended to defraud anyone, just as I didn't, but the system is so complex that mistakes are bound to occur.

So fuck Franken and Daschle and whoever the next round of Republicans are that the Dems investigate in revenge - we simply MUST move to a simple flat tax with a minimum of exceptions.

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