Tax Tuesday

I was going to name this blog posting, "Proverb Tuesday," but the double Ts in "Tax Tuesday" seemed to have more of a ring to it. I am a sucker for alliteration. I am still going to include a few proverbs, or at least proverb-based sayings. My first proverb that seems relevant this week, is one that I slightly modified. It is as follows: "A politician is only as strong as his/her weakest Certified Public Accountant." I know, I borrowed a little bit from the "weakest link" saying; but, if the shoe fits...

Three of President Obama's cabinet picks this week have been found to have tax issues during the vetting process. These include Tim Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury), Nancy Killefer (Chief Performance Officer), and Tom Daschle (HHS Secretary). Sources now report that both Nancy Killefer (see photo below) and Tom Daschle have decided to withdraw their names from consideration. Killefer was found to owe unemployment taxes, while Daschle was found to have owed thousands of back taxes as recently as early January 2009. Some of the taxes were related to a car and driver that he had been given for his own use.

In his First Read blog with MSNBC, Chuck Todd writes about a Mel Brooks' proverb: Tom Daschle is proving Mel Brooks’ theory, “We mock what we are to be.” As first reported by First Read on Sunday, we learned of the existence of a 1986 Daschle for Senate campaign ad called "Old Car," which we dug up for NBC Nightly News last night.

I attached the video below. Talk about your ironies.