I've really been meaning to sit down and take the time to write the second part to my bit on environmentalism and biodiversity, but I have not had an opportunity to give it the uninterrupted attention it deserves. So...it will have to wait for another day, in part because I am admittedly too obsessive and strict with myself in my writing habits--some topics I feel like I can't adequately post on unless I spend a good deal of time on the writing and research. I often wish that I could be a little less picky with writing, I mean I'm not writing some great piece of literature after all. Oh well...I'll quit rambling now.
There are too many things that come to mind immediately tonight so in the interest of just posting something, I wanted to make a brief comment about the now-confirmed Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner. I already have many problems with Mr. Geithner, not the least of which are his IRS issues that have been in the spotlight the past few weeks, but even before today's confirmation I had resigned myself to the fact that his confirmation was inevitable. I've taken lately to streaming one of the C-SPAN video feeds on my office computer so I can listen to hearings and floor debates while I'm working (yes, I am a big geek) and today while sorting through graduate student applications I happened to catch part of the live Senate floor speeches that took place before the official confirmation vote for Geithner. I was particularly intrigued by one rather insignificant statement of fact by Senator Jim Bunning, R-KY, in his speech declaring his opposition to Geithner's confirmation.
In the past few weeks, I've become quite familiar with Geithner's IRS issues stemming from his "honest mistake" in neglecting to pay self-employment tax for several years while he was employed by the IMF. Without re-hashing all of the reasons, suffice to say that given the information I'm aware of so far, I just don't believe Geithner in his claim that this was an innocent omission. I believe there was something shady, at the very least, going on and frankly don't believe that an individual who cheats on his taxes has any business serving as the ultimate "head" of the department of which the IRS is a part. Anyway, eventually (for whatever reason) Geithner paid off what he owed on his tax bill and the Democrats were willing to ignore this minor omission. That was at least something, and I admit that I still felt like there was a slim, slim, slim chance that Geithner actually was telling the truth about this whole thing and then paid what he owed, just as any of the rest of us would have to do in the same situation.
This was before today, when I learned from Senator Bunning that the IRS had waived all penalties associated with Geithner's unpaid taxes. This had certainly been disclosed before today but somehow I had never heard this piece of information. I'm admittedly not familiar with the particulars of the penalties the IRS imposes on those who don't pay what they owe in a timely fashion, but I know there are penalties and that these penalties can be significant. I'm about 99% certain that if I had neglected to pay my $300,000+ tax bill over a period of 4+ years, there's no way in hell that the IRS would simply "waive" the penalties I would owe. I'd be interested if someone could actually enlighten me as to what his tax penalties would have amounted to, out of curiosity.
I can't say that I'm surprised that the IRS would do this, but if Geithner was as "innocent" (in the sense of truly making an "honest mistake") as he has been claiming I think this last piece completely erases any part of me that thought he might be telling the truth about the situation. If he truly believed that he owed the back taxes to the IRS, then he should have also been prepared to pay the penalties for late payment just as the rest of us regular citizens would be required to do. Instead, he accepted special treatment in getting his penalties waived and showed that he seems to feel that tax penalties are unnecessary. Unless he plans to turn this into the elimination of such tax penalties for everyone else, it's just more business as usual.
Ugh...
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