Trade Nominee Ron Kirk Agrees to Pay Back Taxes

By DAVID ESPO | Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Ron Kirk, nominated as U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama administration, owes an estimated $10,000 in back taxes from earlier in the decade and has agreed to make his payments, the Senate Finance Committee said Monday.

The committee said the taxes arise from Kirk’s handling of speaking fees that he donated to his alma mater, and for his deduction of the full cost of season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team.

The disclosure made the former Dallas mayor the latest in a string of top-level Obama administration appointees found to have underpaid their taxes, following Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Tom Daschle, who withdrew as candidate for Health and Human Services secretary. Nancy Killefer, Obama’s pick for chief performance officer, also bowed out amid tax problems.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said Kirk was working to clear up “a few minor issues” uncovered by the committee and expressed confidence he would be confirmed.

Despite the error, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued a statement calling Kirk “the right person for this job,” and said he would attempt to have the nomination moved through the panel quickly …

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Related News: Trade Nominee is 4th Obama Pick to Owe Back Taxes

For Senators, Tax Questions are Taxing

By POLITICO STAFF

When Timothy Geithner appeared before the Senate Finance Committee last month, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) accused the soon-to-be treasury secretary of “dancing around” questions about his taxes.

When news broke that Tom Daschle had failed to pay taxes due on a car and driver, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) declared himself “very troubled by it.”

But neither Kyl nor Cornyn seems interested in answering questions about his own tax history.

They’re hardly alone.

Last week, Politico asked the offices of all 99 sitting senators to say who prepares their taxes, whether they or the Internal Revenue Service has ever discovered an error on returns they’ve filed, and whether they’ve ever had to pay back taxes …

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Obama Labor Secretary-Nominee Faces Tax Questions

By David Alexander | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama‘s pick for Labor secretary faced questions over her husband’s unpaid business taxes on Thursday, the latest in a string of embarrassing tax revelations that have hampered Obama’s efforts to seat a cabinet.

A U.S. Senate panel delayed its vote on Labor Secretary-designate Hilda Solis after the newspaper USA Today reported that her husband paid about $6,400 on Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding against his business for as long as 16 years.

The Senate Labor Committee’s Democratic chairman and its top Republican made no mention of the USA Today report but said the vote was indefinitely delayed to “allow members additional time to review documentation submitted in support” of Solis, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from California.

Solis was the fourth member of the new administration to run into trouble over unpaid taxes. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed by the Senate after paying $34,000 in late self-employment taxes …

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Surely This Isn’t What Obama Meant When He Vowed Change

By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — These first days aren’t going the way that President Barack Obama hoped when he promised to change the way Washington operates. He remains popular, with broad support from the American people, but the taint of politics as usual is challenging the aura of something new. Three of his top nominees have been caught with tax problems, two them departing abruptly Tuesday. Two more were former lobbyists named to high positions despite Obama’s ban on lobbyists in his administration. Yet another, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, had to withdraw weeks earlier because of an investigation into alleged “pay-to-play” politics at home. “This tax issue was starting to reach critical mass,” pollster John Zogby said. “One is a mistake. Two is a problem. When you start getting a third, it possibly becomes a question of judgment. How do you ask Americans to sacrifice while Cabinet members don’t sacrifice until they get caught?” First came reports that Timothy Geithner, a former official of the Federal Reserve, belatedly paid $34,000 in back income taxes, and $8,000 in interest. He was eventually confirmed as treasury secretary. Then came Tuesday morning’s departure of Nancy Killefer, who’d been nominated to a top budget post and who’d failed to pay unemployment compensation taxes for domestic help and had a lien placed on her Washington home as a result. She asked Obama to withdraw her nomination. Finally on Tuesday, Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination to be secretary of health and human services. Daschle, a former member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, last month paid more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest, most of it owed for his chauffeured luxury car, which he enjoyed as a loan from a private-equity firm he advised. He also reported that he’d earned $5 million in two years, largely from industry groups. Suddenly, too many of Obama’s picks struck many people as business as usual rather than “change you can believe in.” … Continue Reading

Related News: Daschle and Killefer Both Withdraw Nominations, Obama: ‘I screwed up’ with nominees