Tax Cheat, Round 2 Featuring Former Senator Tom Daschle; Update: He’s Gone
Update: He’s bowing out.
Let’s start with the basics from the AP:
Tom Daschle collected nearly a quarter of a million dollars in fees in the last two years speaking to leaders of the industry President Barack Obama wants him to reform as the administration’s health secretary.
That was just a portion of the more than $5.2 million the former South Dakota senator earned as he advised insurers and hospitals and worked in other industries — real estate, energy and telecommunications among them, according to a financial statement filed with the Office of Government Ethics.
Daschle’s finances are drawing additional scrutiny because he failed to pay his taxes properly. Although he has made amends with the government, senators said Sunday they are awaiting guidance from the committee reviewing Daschle’s nomination before deciding whether the tax problem could stall or even derail his confirmation.
Obama has said that no one in his administration who has lobbied on a set of issues within the past two years can deal with the same subject matter. The president has already approved a few exceptions, one of them a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist picked to be chief of staff for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Daschle, however, is not a registered lobbyist.
While I, personally, don’t have a problem with someone making money being a lobbyist or making money off of presentations, here’s what I find amazing about the “Limousine Liberal” crowd who like to preach about paying taxes, but then don’t do so themselves…
Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle doesn’t appear to be losing too much support for his nomination to be health and human services secretary despite continually unfolding details about his failure to pay $140,000 in back taxes and interest.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would wait until a report from the Senate Finance Committee, which is to meet Monday to reviewing Daschle’s tax issue and discuss his nomination.
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona — who serves on the finance panel — suggested that the speed at which Obama selected his Cabinet members might have prevented candidates from being properly vetted.
“You wonder if this would have happened with Bush,” Kyl said on FOX News Sunday.
As RedState opines:
More from ABC News:
Based in New York City, InterMedia Advisors is a private equity firm founded in part by longtime Daschle friend and Democratic fundraiser Leo Hindery, the former president of the YES network (the Yankees’ and Devils’ broadcast network). That same year he began his professional relationship with InterMedia 2005, Daschle began using the services of Hindery’s car and driver. The Cadillac and driver were never part of Daschle’s official compensation package at InterMedia but Mr. Daschle — who as Senate majority leader enjoyed the use of a car and driver at taxpayer expense — didn’t declare their services on his income taxes, as tax laws require.
Sound familiar? Did all of these Democrat nominees have the same tax accountant? Evidently Daschle took measures to correct the problem.
During the vetting process to become HHS secretary, Daschle corrected the tax violation, voluntarily paying $101,943 in back taxes plus interest, working with his accountant to amend his tax returns for 2005 through 2007.
Unanswered questions about Daschle persist pertaining to the tax records linked to his wife, Linda Daschle, a well-known registered health care lobbyist. Americans should ask how many more questionable nominees the Obama administration will put forward with the controversies over the tax-evading Timothy Geither, and the gun-hating and pardon giving Eric Holder.
In this case, we’re not even talking about issues with tax software or whatever; this was simply an outright failure to pay “his fair share:”
Apparently, Daschle can’t even use the Geithner “I’m so stupid” excuse, as ABC also discovers that he flat-out failed to report direct income:
The report indicates that Daschle’s failure to pay more than $101,000 taxes on the car and driver a wealthy friend let him use from 2005 through 2007 is not the only tax issue the former Senate Majority Leader has been dealing with since his December nomination prompted a more thorough examination of his income tax returns.
Mr. Daschle also didn’t report $83,333 in consulting income in 2007.
Plus, Daschle claimed almost $15,000 in charitable donations over three years to organizations that don’t qualify for the deduction.
How many Americans make so much money that they could forget about $83,000 of it in a year?
Maybe we as taxpaying Americans really do need Rep. John Carter’s (R-TX) “Rangel Rule!”
-Phil
Well it looks like congress finally listened to the people and said no to Daschle. Even the NY Times said he should go. I do not understand why Congress and the MSM didn’t treat Geithner the same way. Why is it ok for Geithner to be a tax cheat??
On Fox New’s, Cavuto just reported that Tom Daschle
“withdrew” his nomination for HHS.
Seem’s to me that Obama aka, AWE KOOTA BILXPAAK KOOXSHIIWIASH
(which is his adopted Crow name, and translates to “he who helps all people of the land.”) has just been served with a dish of “Eat Crow” by Daschle.
How many more serving’s will he be able to consume?…………………Dan
You know why he picked Gregg…a Republican for Commerce…..I can’t find any Democrats in his circle of friends who are not THUGS or Tax evaders!!!
If Al Capone were alive today, Obama would put him in charge of the ATF. Is there anyone Obama is associated with that isn’t Corrupt, Terrorists, or America Haters. Since all these People are Friends of Obama, it’s OK to break the Law. Obama and all his buddies are above the law. Has anyone ever seen a President get sent to Jail? Impeached, Yes, but never sent to Jail. Any one of us would be in Jail for 20 or more years for any of the crimes commited by Obama’s Staff, but they are ABOVE the LAW. God Help us these next 4 or more years. Anyone who says anything bad will probably get sent to one of the FEMA Detention Centers for Re-Education. Guess none of the Obama-Bots ever read George Orwell’s Animal Farm, or 1984.
I am with you Cal—-I am tired of footing the bill for all of these idiots. Why isn’t Pelousy living in DC if that is where her job is??? I don’t get the luxury of an airplane and living somewhere else if I want a job! Why should she or anyone else unless they are footing the bill themselves. I pay my own gas to get to work. You are RIGHT….ALL THIS NONSENSE NEEDS TO STOP!!!!!!
Isn’t this tax evasion? Him and Geithner both evaded paying taxes and all so conveniently they say, It was a simple mistake, we forgot!
Yeah, right, let one of us forget to pay and we go to jail–Wesley Snipes comes to mind who did go to jail-Willie Nelson the same.
I read about a year ago on foxnews that the IRS said they have 3 billion dollars in outstanding tax debt that is uncollectable and they can’t and will not bother to collect it. What? They went further to add, that it was all government employees that owes these taxes —- so what do we call this? If the IRS cannot do their job–then dismantle them and bring in the fair tax period. That would be 1 less govt department that we have to pay.
I hate taxes and do not like paying them, but I do for fear of tax evasion and the retribution that comes with it. It’s obvious that these politicians think they are above the law in more ways than 1 and this is a perfect example. So why aren’t these two corrupt thugs in prison?
Daschle should be punished “more so” than the average citizen
as he is a “public fiqure”. He should NOT be able to secure
“ANY” Political Office at all.
It is not only a insult to the American Taxpayer, it is an
insult and disgrace that Obama and supporting Congress even
consider him be in charge of HHS.
Let the ‘Blackmailing Begin’… Daschle, as well as other’s,
may well have some type of evidence against Obama. Why else
would a President be handing out “position’s” to “person’s”
who have blatantly broken the Law. Eventually the “grab bag” of
“position’s” will be empty and a dis-satisfied Supporter of
Obama/Soetoro will come out of the closet.
This is just an addition to the beginning of an End for Obama/Soetoro, or whoever he might be…………..Dan Smith,NY
Is that the same got that took a hit of anthrax?
So Daschle was overwhelmed with his new-found wealth in private life. That’s an excuse? I couldn’t WAIT to see him go in 2004. He was always a big troublemaker in Congress. Now, like a bad penny, he’s back. He was depressed because his net worth fell below a million dollars. 99% of Americans should be so lucky.
Phil,
Thanks for the great write up on the Daschle issue. I have several comments:
-What qualifications does Daschle have to be Health & Human Services Secretary???? Hasn’t he just been in politics all of his life? What pratical experience does he have in the healthcare industry? I do not understand why companies would pay him large sums of money to speak about an issue that he is not an expert on. If he is an expert, please enlighten me. It really concerns me how all these senators and congressmen seem to become millionaires while they are in Washington or once they leave. Money is not that easy to come by in the real world.
-The hypocrisy of all these democrats who fail to pay taxes is astonishing. If the average American failed to pay $140,000 in taxes, I believe that they would be in some serious trouble. There is a different set of laws for senators and congressmen – especially democrat senators and congressmen.
-Finally, these politicians get far too many perks while in office and it makes them power hungry and unwilling to become part of the productive work force. So, they become career politicians. Nancy Pelosi getting a private jet and people like Daschle getting drivers while they are in Washington is ridiculous. These politicians start to believe that they are above the law and above the responsibilities that everyone else must deal with. They should also have to pay into the same social security system we pay into and get the same health care options that average Americans get. Without getting rid of these perks and making politicians live like the rest of us, the major problems we have in this country will never be fixed because the politicians do not have to deal with the issues average Americans deal with.