Before Tom Daschle stepped down to circumvent further disgrace, there were accusations of a double standard with regard to overlooking the tax problem of the nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary versus Nancy Killefer’s tax problems which led to her failed appointment to the OMD. “Double standard” is right. “Tax Problem” is right. But not in comparison to Daschle. The DOUBLE STANDARD is about how the misdeeds of politicians, compared to those of common citizens, are regarded. The TAX PROBLEM, is just a problem of syntax. When it involves common citizens it is more commonly referred to as TAX EVASION or TAX FRAUD.
The media is complicit in application of this double standard, more than minimizing it with problematic wording. Why is there no follow-up investigation to the tax evasive activities? Are these cabinet nominees stepping down for consideration in apology for their fraud, or because they want to avoid being confronted about why they did it? Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion, but that wasn’t touching on the extent of his crimes, was it?
Instead of having forgotten to pay the taxes, might Tom Daschle have been trying to obscure the benefits he was receiving, lest he face accusations of CORRUPTION?
There are suggestions that Nancy Killefer withdrew her nomination for more tax problems than merely having failed to withhold income taxes for her domestic workers. But what of that charge? Was that a memory lapse, or a purposeful accounting standard to keep her transactions under the table, in order to pay the lower wages of an undocumented worker?
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s failure to pay Social Security taxes on income he received while employed by the International Monetary Fund, may have been an oversight, after all, it amounted to peanuts compared to what these bureaucrats earn otherwise, but why not ask, whether the IMF is right not to withhold payroll taxes. It’s usually the law for all businesses who are the immediate supervisors to workers. Small businesses can’t get away with filing 1099s for contract employees if in fact the company held direct supervisory authority over them.
For policy makers and policy abusers, apparently it’s punishment enough to deny them cabinet positions. Expecting them to obey the law is too much.
