Geithner’s tax troubles are not a “triviality”
Maybe I won’t throw you off the bus, after all!
You are not going to believe who described Obama Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner’s serial tax-dodging as a “triviality.”
Charles Krauthammer.
He also calls those who believe Geithner should be denied the nomination “unserious.”
Perhaps that Beltway dinner with The One is paying dividends already?
From the Fox News transcript:
KRAUTHAMMER: I disagree. I think what’s serious here is the fact that our banks are collapsing. Citicorp is crashing. We have record unemployment.
We have in Geithner a guy with amazing experience, extremely smart, who has been in every crisis over the weakness in 2008, all the rescues. He is a man who inspires confidence in our economy, which is what it is really lacking.
And to sink his nomination over what I think is a triviality is simply unserious. Our crisis is too strong, too big, and his is too much of an asset to deny him office over unpaid taxes, which in the end he refunded and repented.
Take a look at his Citi bailout track record. That “inspires confidence?”
Take a look at the new reporting by Byron York, who writes today that Geithner simply cannot explain why he failed to his self-employment taxes four separate years despite routine notification by the IMF and the feds.
Here’s a letter from a self-employed Obama supporter published in the Boston Globe today. Is he “unserious,” too?
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, President-elect Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, did not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for four years, despite having been instructed in a handbook by his employer, the International Monetary Fund, on how to pay his self-employment taxes. And the Obama transition team knew of this when it nominated Geithner in November (“Treasury pick failed to pay taxes,” Jan. 14).
We have a financial system meltdown, and Obama decides to put someone who failed to pay his taxes in charge of the cleanup – and in charge of oversight of the IRS!
Most self-employed people, such as I, pay hefty Social Security taxes quarterly. To appoint Geithner would send a message that it’s OK not to pay these taxes – that is, unless you get caught.
There are many qualified men and women of integrity in our country who can serve as Treasury secretary. I voted for Obama, and wish him success, but I cannot agree with his decision to nominate Geithner.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Geithner Plans to Remain on the Job Through Most of 2012
August 8, 2011 12:17 PM by Doug Powers
137 CommentsReport: Geithner on the Way Out?
June 30, 2011 04:43 PM by Doug Powers
84 CommentsThe Latest Obama Cabinet Member with a Tax Problem: Eric Holder
April 17, 2011 04:00 PM by Doug Powers
83 CommentsCBO: Obama Budget Underestimates Deficits a Little… $2.3 Trillion to be Exact
March 18, 2011 04:38 PM by Doug Powers
121 Comments
Tim Geithner Met With Jon Stewart in Apparent Effort to Pump More Jokes into Nation’s Economy
November 4, 2010 10:55 PM by Doug Powers
24 CommentsChange: Capitol Hill Employees Owed $9.3 Million in Overdue Taxes
September 10, 2010 09:47 AM by Doug Powers
15 Comments
Dealergate, social justice & the Obama job-killing machine; Update: The race factor
July 21, 2010 03:48 AM by Michelle Malkin
67 Comments
Categories: Tim Geithner
My question to Geithner: If you weren’t nominated as Treasury Secretary, would you have paid those back taxes?
I watched the movie
‘Invasion of the BodySnatchers’ last night…the remake….
Now why do you suppose it reminded me of Obama Fever???
Could Charles have been replaced by a likeness ??? Hmmmm
Anything and everything that would land an American citizen in prison for the same crime is NOT a trivial matter. It’s disgusting how quickly any citizen could be fined/persecuted/incarcerated for a crime, but members of the government are poo-poo’d and excused.
Really? So you think a guy who can’t do his own taxes is just the guy to fix this economy. REALLY? REALLY??
Krauthammer is not a conservative. He is an anti-jihadist collectivist.
He supports running up a new gas tax – ostensibly to harm OPEC etc. A cute idea but not at all conservative.
Kristol and the whole gang over there are turning into country club Republicans.
Rules are not for the elite. What have you not understood about this? Keep clinging to your guns and old fashioned religion as you obviously will never understand why we can operate this way. Do as we say not as we do. (/sarc)
It seems that something snapped in Krauthammer’s thought process the day Palin was announced as McCain’s running mate. He has not had a lucid, rational thought since.
What exactly has Krauthammer been drinking lately? Geithner didn’t just not pay his taxes… he also accepted ‘reimbursement’ from his employer for the payment of said taxes. If that isn’t fraud, then I don’t know what is. Referring to such actions as ‘trivial’ is just an insult to honest people.
See a pattern there, Charles?
Even a mediocre tax accountant could have fixed this. Is there something wrong with holding the future Treasury Secretary to the same standard as Joe the Plumber?
“The sky is falling. Therefore we should throw out our notions of having ethical and respectable individuals in positions of leadership, decision and power.”
–What Charles Krauthammer meant
I”m telling you, the Obama is Nicolas Carpathia! Next thing, he is going to survive a fatal head wound!
This is on par with the Bush Doctrine of abandoning free market principles to save the free market. Apparently, Bush and Krauthammer are imbibing from the same contaminated source.
Yes, I can confirm, Charlie is a pod.
Krauthammer has obviously joined the dark side. My God! What is this man thinking if the average citizen made these types of mistakes in their taxes the IRS would have seized all their assets, property, and thrown the offender in prison? I really wonder what is being slipped into the water supply inside the beltway besides fluoride.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
So he was re-imbursed for his taxes but was STILL unable to pay them?
Without question, he knowingly made the choice to take the re-imbursement and not pay his taxes. Unbelievable!
If he is “extremely smart” how did he get caught?
If you abandon them, they can’t be principles. Fancies, whims, notions, but not principles. One can only hope that this historic trauma to our country will end “compassionate conservatism (socialism lite)” once and for all. Real conservatives must come to the forefront, but alas, the entire world is sold on secular Socialism as the only basis for modern societies. I don’t see a good future for human liberty, only a slow decent into authoritarian rule.
I wonder what would happen under Geitner if a large number of self employed people refused to pay their self-employment taxes. I wonder how long could the country stumble along with a significant amount of it’s income not coming in? Could we topple the government if nobody paid their taxes for a year?
Who believes that Geithner is the only person in the whole nation capable of doing this job? Surely there are dozens of others just as capable.
The question then is: Why are they fighting so hard for him alone? A few months ago, we were told Paulson was a god and the world would explode if his will were not followed. That proved to be a lie. Why should we now believe Geithner is the only person who can do this job when the same people telling us so were completely wrong about Paulson?
Krauthammer can’t be correct 100% of the time.
There are far more qualified people for this job. Keep looking.
But you see the average citizen is not being nominated for Treasury Secretary. The average citizen is not qualified to be in the government of this nation, only the elites are qualified.
I wonder if I stop paying my taxes if Krauthammer will leap to my defense? No?
The government of this nation needs desperately to be returned to the citizens. We start by moving it, lock stock and barrel, to an abandoned strip mall outside Boise. And if a department doesn’t fit in the mall then we eliminate it.
Sorry Boiseans (?) that you will have to put up with the feds but look at it as taking one for your fellow Americans — we’ll be eternally grateful.
I posted the item below in one of the other Geithner threads and I’m posting it here too . This appointment of this loser is just another example of the typical leftist elitist attitude: “Do as we say, not as we do”. Krauthammer’s support of the bum is an example of what is wrong with what is presented to us as Conservative thought, the same elitist attitude as from the left!
(Your Name Here)
… at Cheating the Tax System.
Like others here, I use to like Krauthammer, but I lost faith in him when he started telling me about the debates. He is from the spin zone.
There’s probably a lot more abandoned strip malls outside of Detroit than Boise.
Besides, Boise is too close to Wyoming to be Fed Central for my liking.
I witnessed Krauthamer’s comments live. I couldn’t believe my ears. Maybe he felt that tingling feeling up his leg at the private audience he and other so-called conservatives had with Obama…or perhaps there is something in the beverages that Obama serves up. Somewhere up this thread, it was suggested that we all refuse to pay taxes for a year. It would be interesting to hear Giethner’s response. Maybe he would feel a twinge of guilt, or even hypocrasy, running up his leg when he complained about it.
Krauthammer has obviously joined the dark side indeed. We will lose many to the lure of power, prestige, access and perhaps cushy jobs. McCain is desperate to be relevant again and regain the fawning media’s attention. Lindsay Graham is setting new records for stupid statements. Bush I and II have sent their self respect to the dry cleaners and it got lost.
Obama Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner is without honor so he fits right in. He is a regular Burt Lance (the Burt Lance School of Creative Accounting: Jimmy Carter) for the Obamination, as they all are.
RINOs are always in season.
Guess we now know the bank Krauthammer has his money deposited in … as well as which stock brokerage handles his investments …
I agree that Krauthammer has been quite un-Krauthammer-like since the elections took place … not quite sure what to think about it at this point …
That’s an unbelievable stance by Krauthammer….so is his hysteria about the economy. Record unemployment? Pahleeze.
Geithner has amazing experience, alright, but at least some of it is in tax dodging. Is THIS what qualifies him as a leading expert on TARP/CRAPSANDWICH?
Charles, I will now conceder you as “simply unserious”.
We have enough of the Federal Government in Boise for most of the conservatives in Idaho to stomach already. I prefer the following solution:
I am sure the failing city of Detroit will make a very comfortable home with plenty of empty facilities for our rapidly failing Federal Government. They would complement each other very well.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
Here we go. 1 day after getting in, obama will start funding abortions overseas.
Spiro Agnew’s ghost, eat your heart out.
Assuming Giethner made an honest mistake with his taxes over the past eight years, what does that say about his competence to manage billions of dollars? Such long term sloppy behavior is bound to repeat itself at our expense.
I have honestly been trying to work out what’s behind this abortion fetish, but it’s a total mystery to me. Do the leftards see it as some form of self-selecting eugenics? What are they going to do to assuage their guilt and gratify their need to condescend when their victim-clientele has aborted itself into oblivion?
How is it that so many people, like Krauthammer, fail to understand that it is all about getting cought in the ‘trivial’ matters. These ‘trivial’ ones always are overlooked by people making them as they spend their time covering the more serious ones.
Now, exactly why did Geithner need the few extra bucks from this trivial matter?
Our anger seems misplaced. Aim it at the Senators who are either standing down, or adoringly gushing sound bites about Geithner to the press. They are the ones who we depend upon to hold his feet to the fire, no matter how they feel about Obama. I like Krauthammer, though I disagree with him on this point, and many others. Don’t become intolerant, just disagree, and feel free to say so. That’s what America is losing, as we move to an approach of requiring absolute agreement and acceptance, as the Democrats do about Geithner, or rejection when we disagree.
He just joined the rest of the MSM that tells us there is nothing wrong with any decision or person BHO picks.We are the unwashed and we are going to like it no matter what.
Krauthammer’s a genius but every once in a while he goes off his meds.
If Geithner’s problem was just the taxes, maybe it would be trivial. It’s the FRAUD in taking a reimbursement for something he did not pay (and still wouldn’t have if the nomination hadn’t thrown a spotlight on him) that’s the problem.
Hey John
My Idaho is one of the few states that still works right. Put the feds into downtown San Francisco. They belong together.
Tim Geithner say;
“But, but the tax code is too complicated for me to understand. Allow me to be nominated so I can enforce it”.
It’s time for the “fair Tax’ folks.
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer
Eugenics itself is but part the whole Lefts need to denigrate the individual to but a cipher of the collective. Marriage, the family, the individual are to be marginalized and sex relegated to a mere physical act- a bodily function. It is the same with their pagan worship/nature worship. They must reduce man from a God Breathed Creature to a splat of organic matter and elevate nature to god.
These leftist who talk of Compassion and Love so endlessly sure admired Lenin, Joesph Stalin, Mao, Tito, Castro and that Che character when they were at their murderous best. When William Ayres talked of his concentration camps and the murder of 25 million Unrepentants the left was NOT upset.
If a society can blithely kill the unborn, move on to “assisted suicide” then the killing of the Life Unworthy of Life should not be too big a problem. Conservatives, Christians and the Unrepentants first, then any beautiful people who are too pesky.
Then you get Plato’s Republic-Terror for the sake of Terror- it worked for Lenin and friends. Krauthammer should be worried as he is both Jew and in a wheel chair, both Life Unworthy of Life catagories.
It’s not that we are intolerant of opinion, it’s that we must be intolerant of dishonesty. When values are willingly compromised, absolutely anything and everything can be “tolerated”.
The truth of the matter, from Lisa Shiffren at NRO:
But don’t expect anyone to admit that.
I also watched Krauthammer make that statement live and was stunned; Every bit of his response was pure bovine scatology; He couldn’t be more wrong about Geithner, who is simply Paulson’s bum boy and has assisted in orchestrating the mess we are now in and desires to make it worse; Study up on your free market principles and your understanding of ethics there “K” man or move over to MSNBC.
I beleive Charles is thinking that any other potential nominee is less desirable (more socialist) that Timmy. I have heard that argument floated as a way to get Republicans on board.
This man wasn’t self-employed. He was working for an employer in the United States. Unlike you and me, his employer is exempt from paying payroll taxes, and does not withhold income taxes. There are thousands of other US citizens in the same situation.
It’s a nice gig if you can get it.
Not only are the circumstances of Geithner’s non-payment of taxes non-trivial, but so too are Krauthammer’s dismissive statement about them non-trivial. Here we have a previously highly respected and seemingly principled conservative commentator saying that criminal activity (yes, it was indeed criminal tax evasion and fraud) is no big deal for the Secretary of the Treasury! Simply amazing.
Krauthammer had been one of the very few (and dwindling) serious commentators that I looked to for sane analysis. As others have noted, something indeed happened to his thought processes this election. Whatever the reason for his lurching off course, I am permanently crossing him off my list of Muyst Reads. Simply stated, I no longer trust him or his judgment.
I guess this makes me “unserious” but I’ve never been able to listen to, read or especially look at Krauthammer because all I can think of is Voldemort.
A new major of study at Berkeley?
It is all Bush’s fault. Nancy should investigate Bush for Geithner not paying his taxes. Who the heck cares what Krauthammer has to say, he will say anything to open investigation into the Bush buddies.
Liberalese…Let bygones be bygones. These are simple oversights that have since been remedied. It’s time to look toward the future. He is a better man for discovering and correcting this minor misstep….we’re talking about Tim Geithner here, not George W. Bush.
The fact that he was willing to game the tax system makes him even more qualified to serve with others in the group of Obama Administration nominees. He’s unabashed, and unapologetic. One might come to the conclusion that he’s cut from the same cloth as “I did nothing wrong” Rod Blago.
The Ag school is at Davis.
Harvard and Yale have the BS majors.
Excuse me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Krauthammer on the guest list at George Will’s special dinner with Obama? So what happened to the real Charles? He’s got to be a pod. Otherwise, how can we explain his outrageous comment?
LOL
A pod or poodle, both useless to working things.
And now, by golly, Obama’s reaching across the aisle to his good buddy, McCain. Guess they’re having their bonding time tonight. If I don’t call in sick to tomorrow, (all my patients will have their TV on the inauguration, I’m sure), I’m wearing black.
One of my co-workers yesterday breathlessly tried to tell me how excited she was about Obama and Hillary. I held up my hand, [STOP]! — Don’t share your happiness with me, I’m not a DEMOCRAT!!!
Why is it the Democrats have absolutely no use for morals or standards, especially in a time of crisis?
Even if there WEREN’T other people better qualified than The Tax Evader, I’ll take the SECOND BEST person, as long as that person was honest and ethical.
DUH.
We don’t need THE most qualified person in office if that person is a CRIMINAL.
Democrats just don’t get that. They have no compunction pushing for other dirty Dems. What a morally bankrupt lot they are.
Boy, he sure inspires me with confidence! Here’s a man who lied to his employer, robbed all Americans by not paying his fair share of taxes, and even failed in his scheme to cheat the IRS. The only thing he inspires is the confidence that when his policies fail, no one will be able to claim his appointment was a “trivial” mistake.
Holy crap! I think someone hit Krauthammer in the head–with a hammer!
Holy crap! I think someone hit Krauthammer in the head–with a hammer!
Try a mental experiment by putting Charles Krauthammer in Geithner’s shoes. Assume for a moment that Krauthammer is the Treasury Secretary nominee and that he has been stiffing the IRS for years. Is there any way you can imagine Keith Olbermann defending him and calling his tax-dodging a “triviality”?
Me neither. And I certainly can’t imagine Olbermann saying the following about Krauthammer or anyone else on the right:
Why is it that when a Republican does it, it’s another case of the evil rich selfishly avoiding his fair share of taxes; but when a Democrat does it, it’s a case of a good man making an honest and trivial mistake?
Chuck is right. Dodging taxes will be the most trivial of the crimes that are soon to be committed.
According the the MSM it is noting to be concerned about.
Fixed. Just you all wait until everything starts to unravel down the road. The honeymoon will be short-lived.
They even get reimbursed for the taxes they pay, so they don’t even lose anything by paying.
Every 3 months a statement comes about taxes, it is quite impossible to not know.
Frankly, it won’t matter one iota until they get rid of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Pelosi. I can not end with these three in office, ever.
These are the real crooks who added fuel to the financial collapse fire. These are the people more guilty than all the Madoff’s combined (60 times more) and yet they are all still in office demanding more CRA crap and ‘too big to fail’ GSE’s while hiding behind race cards and desks AND asking for a couple TRILLION more.
Oh…. and a PAY RAISE.
Charles “Hey, let’s implement a $1/gallon gasoline tax to promote conservation” Krauthammer is rapidly becoming just another Vichy Republican.
Yes, that’s right…Obama smart!! But he forgot to pay his taxes on income from the IMF?
So far, most of Obama’s nominees have been treated like they’re from magical city of Teflon. Nothing, even the most corrosive of stains (on their reputations) seem to stick, a la “Slick Willie.”
Caveat emptor, Mr. Obama.
Is disagreement with a fellow conservative reason to dismiss him as a loon? Charles Krauthhammer is a widely respected conservative, who I dont happen to agree with all the time. This is his opinion; and it has some merit, though you may disagree with it. Lets not attack the man for it. That’s a Democrat attribute; it shouldnt be a conservative’s.
When his opinions are looney? Yes.
I’d be happy to let Geithner off the hook if I can stop paying self-employment taxes. Seriously, what kind of screwed up country punishes people for successfully running a business?
The love fest for Obama by so many on the right is sickening.I about tossed my cookies when I heard Newt Gingrich and his love fest for Obama.
As Joe Biden would say “I can describe Geithner with a six letter word: S-M-A-R-T”
You can’t write this stuff – no one would believe it.
The President of the United States is buddies with and related to a genocidal maniac in Africa.
The President of the United States kicked off his political career in the living room of a murderous terrorist.
The President of the United States is neck deep in the political cesspool of Chicago politics and has been caught in lies about Blago’s appointment multiple times.
The President of the United States has appointed a Secretary of the Treasury who not only doesn’t pay taxes but illicitly took money from the IMF to cover the taxes he didn’t pay.
The President of the United States’s selection of Tom Daschle to head Health and Human Services directly violates his own ethics policy.
It goes on and on and on…
One thing is for sure, President B. Hussein Barak is going to make George W Bush look damn good in the history books.
As others have pointed out:
Like I tell my troopers…think of everything that has ever happened to you in your life, good or bad.
Then look in the mirror and ask yourself: “Who was always part of the event?”
It’s always the face in the mirror…and that person is culpable.
So it goes with the nominee. He is supposed to be a responsible adult. His past actions provide a window to the future. Keep it closed. Tightly.
KP
Amen #10. When you find a common thread in a series of problems, in most cases you have found the cause of those problems.
The liberal stance on the abortion fetish is easily explained. Abortion is for white people period. Knowing that most whites abort for alot of reasons, but namely a financial reason for single mothers. Minorities don’t care about abortion, they have as many babies as they can, wed or not, knowing the government will pick them up in welfare. Its how the USA will become browner and less white over the future. When you throw in the illegals’ baby factories from Central America it is staggering and proves that whites are a vanishing breed. Whites have less babies because we have to pay for them out of our own pocket. When my twins were born 5 weeks early i had to pay $52,000 for prenatal care. All the black babies in the same room got their care for free and their whore mothers were crack addicts. Having babies runs up the welfare check.. thus more crack.