You know America is great when a guy named Tim Geithner can evade $34,000 in taxes, get appointed to become the US Treasury Secretary puppet, AND make repeated claims in the press to raise taxes in 2011!
Well of course it's a good idea to raise taxes if you can evade them as craftily as you can Treasury Secretary Geithner! So good of you to say you messed up on your own tax returns (oopsie), and to ignore your old employer's repeated written statements to pay your taxes between 2001 and 2004 at the IMF. So good of you to finally pay the $34,000 taxes you evaded once Obama selected you as the new Treasury Secretary! We all know you would have paid the $34,000 in back taxes even if Obama didn't appoint you right? *wink* *wink*.
TIM GEITHNER ISN'T ALONE!
Thanks to The Washington Post, the venerable newspaper has now revealed that some 41 Obama aides have not paid $830,000 in back taxes either! Now, now, don't judge since that's only $21,000 in back taxes owed per Obama aide. However, if you calculate the total amount of taxes owed by delinquent government employees, the number comes out to over $2 billion dollars! Let's be fair here, as I'm sure that both parties owe tons of back taxes. That said, if your party is for big government and higher taxes, shouldn't you be a little more honest? Nah.
The reason why it is actually OK to evade taxes is because we follow our leaders. Government employees are raking it in, and there's nothing you or I can do to stop the trend. We are loyal soldiers to the great powers in government. The people of America voted the current administration in, therefore they are a reflection of our own ideals. We condone tax evasion and two faced politicians because if we didn't, they wouldn't have come to power. This is why America is so great! There are enough manipulable people out there that so long as you aren't one of them, you will flourish!
Go USA!
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@Ginger: did you know that LOL means “laughing out loud” ? You don’t make sense.
@Lisa Thomas: take off your caps lock and STOP SHOUTING
@everyone: FairTax makes this a non-issue !!! http://www.FairTax.org
WHAT MAKES THE GOVERNMENT THINK THAT THEY ARE ABOVE THE LAW?? PRESIDENT OBAMA OR ANY PRESIDENT BEFORE AND AFTER COULD MAKE THEM PAY THEIR TAXES OR JAIL TIME LIKE OTHER TAX PAYERS. THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE. PERSONALLY, THERE ARE TOOOOO MANY PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT. IT NEEDS TO BE SIZED DOOOOWWWNNNN!!!! BULL CRAP IS KEPT UP SO THERE’S SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT.
After seeing other countries, I’d say giving those in power a few extra benefits (e.g. 21K in back tax avoidance without outright illegal avoidance) is probably enough motivation to keep corruption down to noise levels.
It’s countries where government workers seemingly have low/average salaries/benefits where corruption runs rampant. Sure the reports says they only make $1/year but just to get them to do their jobs then requires handing them some cash under the table. From an American perspective, we would go “let’s fry their butts” but the reality is when those in power feel like they don’t have enough power, the entire establishment steals left and right. You can’t even begin to chase down anybody down.
It’s not fair of course but life is not fair. We have to make do with least damaging. Shrug … this is the United States in decline. Only hope is for a World War 3 to severely damage the infrastructure in Europe and Asia so America can once again jump into the vacuum.
reading these comments is quite apparent how the dems are and who the republicans are. Stop drinking the koolaid and realize that it’s not bush vs obama, its those who have vs those who have nothing.
Missed this the first time around (and apparently missed quite a ruckus…), so here we go:
Readers, does it upset you that 41 Obama aides owe more than $800,000 in back taxes? I mean, that’s only $21,000 per employee, so it ain’t that bad is it?
Not knowing all the details (it’s well after midnight as I write this, and I’m already staying up later than I wanted tonight), I’m trying not to pass judgment too quickly. Although, at best it indicates that the tax system has gotten way too complex (if it’s messing up high ranking federal employees); at worst, it’s yet another sign of corruption to add to the ‘politicians are crooked’ pile.
Do you mind that the government wants to raise your taxes while behind the scenes they try to avoid paying as much as possible?
Alright, (a) I don’t think anyone in government WANTS to raise taxes; that’s the sort of thing that hurts them at the ballot box. I do have more respect for politicians who admit that we can’t cut taxes AND increase spending (or even keep it at the same level), and that if we want to keep funding (and increasing the funding for) Social Security, Medicare, the armed forces, etc, taxes will have to go up; too bad I don’t think anyone on either side is saying that (at least not loud enough). It’s not rocket science. If you want to cut taxes, name some programs you want to cut (in whole or in part), Republicans; similarly, if you want to increase spending, admit that taxes need to rise, either now or in the future, Democrats.
Back to the question at hand, I also think (b) it’s better to know that the people in Obama’s staff are normal humans who want to minimize the amount they have to pay. Imagine if the Washington Post had found that Obama’s staff overpaid; how likely do you think it would be that we’d get any kind of tax reduction from people who collectively overpaid their taxes by hundreds of thousands of dollars? (This doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be forced to pay up, with penalties and interest; just a view on what this means)
Do you think Tim Geithner would have paid his taxes if he wasn’t appointed Treasury Secretary and nobody brought it up?
Probably not. If there was no real penalty, why should he pay? I’d argue that it’s a reason to increase the power of the IRS; if the worst that happened to Geithner was some strongly worded letters, why would he (or anybody, really) feel threatened? I’d go a bit further and recommend annual audits of everyone even loosely connected to the federal government; besides keeping them honest, it might help them to realize what a pain in the ass the federal tax system has become, and perhaps try to really reform it. But then, maybe I’m just a dreamer…
FairTax makes this a non-issue! Good grief, don’t INCREASE the power of the IRS, ABOLISH it!
I do agree that it is annoying to find out that so many government employees have not paid their taxes. We should lead by example, and it is hypocritical to ask otherwise. If someone can legally reduce their tax bill, yet campaigns to remove those “loopholes,” they are duplicitous at best.
We must always remember that the best way to effect change is simply to start with ourselves. Like Sam says, our gov’t is a reflection of our society. Don’t like it? Then be different. You can effect change, just quit talking about it and go do it.
This is just more of the same ‘good enough for you, but not for me’ attitude that so many of our politicians and government officials have. It’s there in taxes, in their stance on the environment (They harp on SUV drivers, while driving all over in their own SUVs) and it’s there in their assumption that they know better than us when it comes to what to do with our money. More of the same, and altogether not that surprising.
I came to comment and feel like I’ve stepped into a firefight. :)
Anyway, my two cents:
Everyone breaks the law, it just depends to what extent…
As long as there’s a decent firewall between government and the people, each will look after their own.
Sure it upsets me. But it doesn’t surprise me. That’s the Dem’s way. They’ll point fingers at ‘the other side’, and claim ‘the other side is greedy and evil’ all while pulling these stunts.
An interesting aside: My Microeconomics professor admitted earlier today that of the two parties, the Left is much more economically ignorant than the Right.
@Ken @Spruce Up Your Finances
There are always exceptions, but where I live, bus drivers get paid significantly more than IT workers. Garbage truck drivers get paid at least the same. Something seems wrong with that to me… not only in terms of incentives, but also in terms of justice, as their salaries are funded out of the taxes that the private sector workers must pay.
Not all government employees make the kind of money mentioned in the article and not all government employees don’t pay taxes. Those in the articles are probably some of the exceptions. In fact, majority of the public servants are making much less than their private counterparts.
Of course. There’s no one size fits all. That said, if you are a government employee who espouses tax hikes, shouldn’t you pay your own first? Common sense no?
Something else to ask would be why do public servants get a much better deal than the private sector workers that pay their salaries and pensions?
Thank you for writing this post Sam. I feel like the U.S. Government is the giant elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge. By that I mean that everyone knows that there is an astronomical amount of corruption, evasion, excess, and waste that goes on in our government, but that NOBODY wants to begin to deal with it. More taxes, more government workers, will only act to make things worse.
Think about this: Let’s assume it takes 3 Private employees to pay for 1 government employee’s salary. The government is currently GROWING (16,000+ new IRS jobs due to healthcare reform). By this simple example, in order to pay for those new jobs alone, we need at least 48,000 more private sector jobs. And that’s just to break even…
I hear ya man. And I think it’s the responsibility of all personal finance bloggers to expose the hypocrisy to as many peoe as possible! Too many people just blindly follow their leaders. Wake up people!
I guess my feelings should be hurt now? LOL Poor me :-)
Babes, happily married going on 5 years! Hubby says hi! :-) It’s easy to get nasty when you’ve got nothing else of substance to say which just proves my point. Again, have at it! LOL
It’s OK to dream :)
Nancy, I am far from insecure or immature sweets. Frankly, you sound like you’re more bothered by the exchange than I am. Let it go hon, it’s for the best *shrug* People have disagreements on blogs all the time. Time to end this and move on. Pleasantries :-)
Referring to someone as Hon, sweets and using no less than 4 emoticons isn’t immature?
No it isn’t. I don’t recall this site nor the comments being the hallmark of scholarly discourse.
You can call me what you want have at it. At the end of the day you all see more bothered than I ever will be. Keep at it, it serves you well LOL
Just one question: Are you lonely? Because it’s easy to see why nobody would want to be with you based on your comments.
Have a nice day!
Hey Sam,
I’ve been so swamped with work that I haven’t had a chance to visit in a couple of weeks. My first free 1/2 day today. I see that you caught that article. I tweeted about it but had no time to express my disgust in a blog post. Glad you did it.
What was interesting was that the back taxes increased 47% within the past two years. It’s not like these government employees can’t afford to pay taxes. The going rate for a Washington aide starts at $300,000/year for some offices based on what my college roommate confirmed for me. Her husband is high in the Democratic ranks.
I find it highly ironic that the people who write our tax laws and want to increase taxes do not believe in paying taxes unless they were caught or forced to.
Yikes! I had NO idea that a government aide starts at $300,000! I thought their salaries were more like $80-120,000. Thanks for the tidbit.
I also did not know that the back taxes increased 47% w/in the past two years. WTF! That’s massive hypocrisy. I’m so disappointed :(
What pisses me off more is that if it were Bush’s aids did it CNN would have their heads on the chopping block.
I think this is just a symptom of the complete lack of shame in our politicians and their minions. It used to be, when you did something wrong or illegal, you were ashamed. You’d correct it, repent, become a better person. Nowadays, it’s not whether it’s right or wrong, it’s only whether or not it’s illegal. And now that it’s come to light that these people aren’t lawfully paying their taxes, it will be something like “let’s focus on what’s important”, “let’s look forward, not back”. I doubt the administration will even acknowledge the issue publicly, much less address it.
IMHO, it’s just another argument for going to a flat tax rate! Taxes are too complex with too may weird rules…
I mean, come on… If Mr. Geithner (who is suppose to be a genius) can screw up his taxes (along with those aids you identified above), the what chance does the average person that wants to become an entreprenuer have of doing it correctly?
I bet @Everyday Tips is right, Timmmmmmy (South Park reference, hehe) probably did get a bonus to pay his taxes. Grrrrr
That is a great point! If Tim Geithner can screw up his taxes, what chance does the avg person have for doing it correctly?
I’ll be very curious to see how long it takes for all of those people to pay all the back taxes. It better all come from their banks and not secretly get paid out by our tax dollars!
@Marc Rohde
you must not live in California b/c our 10% sales tax is a $*@&# and a half.
Correct, live in TX w/ 8.5% tax and no state income tax…halfway there if the fed would change to VAT.
It needs to be either/or other wise you will get screwed like you do in CA but the great thing about sales tax is it taxes consumption rather than income so you have an incentive to save and if you spend it really is a flat tax (unless the government continues sin taxes which make people pay more for some goods).
A sales tax wouldn’t be enough to fund the huge gov’t spending. It’s great that you guys have no state income tax, that’s huge. However, I think I’d rather pay $100,000 in taxes a year to not live in Texas. Sorry, but I need the water, the moderate temperature, and beauty out here.
LOL, great point!
I do have water (about 20 minutes from the Gulf) but the temps are anything but moderate. As a transplant I can certainly understand your comment having come from a region with four seasons.
These problems wouldn’t happen if we had sales tax rather than income tax. While we may not capture tax on all value added we would close the loop holes with a consumption tax and minimize the reach of the IRS to businesses (producers) rather than all employees.
So is this a personal finance blog or political talking points blog? Your ideas presented here are clearly one sided and jaded. Go back to writing about personal finance :-)
It’s whatever the heck I want it to be. They still practice communism in North Korea so get on over there. America doesn’t need folks like you :)
Spare me the tea party nutball rhetoric LOL And who said anything about communism? You clearly seem to think you know my political stance. Let me guess, your assumption is based on a few clicks and you think that I want a social welfare free for all? “Folks like me ehh-get over it, we are here to stay LOL
I think you need to remember that America didn’t belong to you before YOU came here. If YOU don’t like it then go build your own country somewhere in Europe and stay there.
Again, stick to personal finance.
So because Indians lived here before Caucasians (and I assume you know Sam’s ethnic background? Because he’s never mentioned it), then Sam has to present multiple viewpoints on his blog? Well, I guess that counts as an opinion, at any rate. At least your grammar was reasonably good.
So is that the new online protocol: I can say whatever I want, no matter how inflammatory or retarded, but just add an “LOL” or an emoticon and I’m good to go?
Ginger, you sound pretty hot. And by hot I mean “insane”. :)
You can delete my comments all you want but I am dead on about you LOL. We don’t need to share the same ideals or political thought process but being respectful and *gasp* tolerant of opposing views is something you could probably learn more about. Again, you took a look at my twitter pic/blog/comments and made the assumption that I want a freeballing social welfare system and told me to go find my way to Korea because they practice communism there.
I wonder, what made you think I would even want such a system here in America? That wasn’t even remotely the point of my original comment. But rabid, intolerant perspectives like yours remind me that even when attempting civil political discourse it isnt always possible because of pre-existing notions about the other side.
Ill be sure to post this on Twitter just in case you miss and delete it here :-)
Ginger girl, you’re making us women look bad! You make yourself sound stupid by not recognizing that taxes have everything to do with personal finance. Do you not pay taxes, which is why you don’t care about this double standard? Taxes are the single largest personal finance expense of all people in America!
Your comments make you sound hormonal. Comments are caught in spam all the time, as mine is right now. Why is it if you add a smiley face, Sam can’t as well? If you are going to dish it out, you should be able to get it right back.
Chill girl and stop making women look bad!
LOL! Truth hurt much?
You can delete my comments all you want but I am dead on about you LOL. We don’t need to share the same ideals or political thought process but being respectful and *gasp* tolerant of opposing views is something you could probably learn more about. Again, you took a look at my twitter pic/blog/comments and made the assumption that I want a freeballing social welfare system and told me to go find my way to Korea because they practice communism there.
I wonder, what made you think I would even want such a system here in America? That wasn’t even remotely the point of my original comment. But perspectives like yours remind me that even when attempting civil political discourse it isnt always possible because of pre-existing notions about the other side.
Ill be sure to post this on Twitter just in case you miss and delete it here :-)
Hi Ginger, just got home. As a new commenter, your comments are captured in Akismet’s spam filter, just like your first comment which I had to unspam. I can’t be online all the time, especially on a beautiful Sunday.
Feel free to share more of your thoughts as to why you think it’s OK to raise taxes on Americans while avoiding paying taxes. Shouldn’t gov’t officials be held to a higher standard?
Glad you’re so passionate, although I don’t think I understand yet where you are coming from so please elaborate. Welcome to the site!
Cheers
Did you say you are a psychotherapist? Because you sound like a complete nut job and need to see one yourself!
I’ve never seen you around here, but you sure make for good entertainment. Nice one Sam for getting her all crazy and stuff hehe.
Genius? Reading is fundamental.
My comments are directed towards the author, stay in your lane.
Greg, Reading is fundamental.
My comments are directed towards the author, stay in your lane. :-)
Nancy you sound silly. No where do I make any representations that my opinions reflect women as a whole, just like I don’t speak for everyone in my race. Spare me the generalizations. I stand by my original comments sans spam filter issue *shrug*
Furthermore, if you can actually read and process what I wrote you’ll note that I commented how one sided the article is which was directed to the author. Sam replied that I must like a communist society and therefore should move to N. Korea and I replied to Sam in kind. Im allowed, the last time I checked.
And who said Sam can’t add a smiley face? o_O Where did I say that?
You sound very insecure frankly. What race are you? How did race get into the topic of conversation? I don’t have an idea, and neither does anybody. Is the reason why you are so upset is because you are from Korea? I’m really trying to understand where your immaturity is coming from. The way I read it, North Korea is just an example of a Communist country gone wrong where people are suffering since there is no reward and only punishment for success.
Obviously you haven’t been around this site long enough to know that a lot of us are against big government, poke fun at a lot of things, and don’t take ourselves too seriously. You’re in the wrong forum for attacking a blogger without being able to get jabbed at back without going all PMS on us.
Let me put it this way. Taxes ARE part of personal finance. Also the more the government is part of our GDP the more unfortunately we have to talk about it. It becomes politicized because of more government involvement in our economy.
I’m glad I found this thread again.