Thursday, January 15, 2009

Throw Timmy From The Train

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Members of the Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday with treasury secretary nominee Tim Geithner over concerns involving his personal taxes and the immigration status of a former housekeeper, transition officials said.

Timothy Geithner has been nominated for the post of treasury secretary in the Obama administration.

The Geithners employed a housekeeper whose employment authorization document expired about three months before she stopped working for them in October 2005, according to a written statement from the Senate Finance Committee.
Later, the housekeeper, who is married to a U.S. citizen, was granted a green card, transition officials said.

The second concern involves Geithner's taxes while he worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to a statement released by the committee, Geithner failed to pay self-employment taxes while the IMF paid him from 2001 to 2004.

In 2006, the Internal Revenue Service audited Geithner for tax years 2003 and 2004, and he paid $16,732 for the taxes and interest for those years, the statement said. After Obama nominated him for treasury secretary, Geithner voluntarily amended his taxes for 2001 and 2002, paying $25,970 for those taxes and interest, the committee said.

Don't confirm him. Look, I know he has already paid the money back, and it probably was a mistake made in a 40-page tax document. However, we have RABID anti-Democrats out there (you can't really call 'em Republicans any more) and the last thing we need to do is give them material. Let's get Krugman or Reich for the job instead. Best of luck, Geith.

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