Another Obama Nominee Trips On Taxes

Being a Czar isn’t what it used to be.

Too bad. She seemed good.

When are people going to start asking about the federal tax implications of Charlie Rangel getting rent-controlled rates on properties that were not required to be rent controlled. Seems like that benefit ought to be taxable.

Perhaps this is less a sign of Obama selecting people who have tax troubles, and more an indication that with how ridiculous and complicated the tax code has become, especially for people in Washington who often have income coming from a variety of sources and have a number of investments, that the system itself is a problem.

Is it time to start calling him President Britney? (“oops, I did it again?)
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I mean, this just cries out for a “Leave Barack Alone!!!” You Tube video…

First it’s the Chauffeur, then it’s the Maid. It isn’t that the tax code is too complicated. It’s the atmosphere that’s too rarified. At this rate we’ll soon learn that an Obama nominee was once a member of a race-exclusive Country Club.

What Paul Dirks said. Do people in DC believe they only have to pay taxes after they’ve been nominated for a White House job?

sorry spob — but the rent controlled status is on the apartment not on the person.
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and while the NYT feel justified in going after Rangel on this because technically these apartments would not be used for political offices, since the whites flooded into Harlem and raise the cost of living these so substantially, without rent control he can’t afford to have an office in Harlem.
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Perhaps you might not find that problematic. apparently the NYT doesn’t. but I have to ask at the end of the day, when the 75 year old black great grandma who has lived in the projects on 135th St for 60 years has a problem, should she have to come to Washington to see Rangle or should she have an office in her neighborhood that she can get to?
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Some times reality and technicality is really at odds. Of course, as tax payers we could just pay whatever the market decides for this office space, after all he is the chairman he could get that or something can’t he?

Dee, you’re just plain ignorant. The real estate company was not required to rent 3 of the 4 properties to Rangel at rent-controlled rates, yet it did so. Thus, Rangel got a tangible benefit from the real estate company–he should pay taxes on it. Let’s see if any journalists will ask Rangel about the tax implications of his rent-controlled apartments.

And stop playing the race card. It’s pathetic.

This is really bordering o the ridiculous. She stepped down because the sharks have the taste of blood now so there is not pulling back now. But $900 in 2005 that she paid in 2005. Unemployment compensation, which implies that she paid fica, and medicare because unemployment is the only thing they mentioned. Give me a break. And this is to the same DC government who forgot to pay it’s teachers not too long ago. And who insist on sending me a letter about a ticket that was paid for and that I have the receipt to prove and have faxed it to them it at least once a year since 1994.

I have never paid the taxes for all my household help.
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The nanny, the cleaning crew, the chef, the chauffeur, the valet, the laundress, the masseuse, the personal trainer, the stylist, the dresser, the bartender, the jester, the trumpeters (who announce my every entrance and exit), the stable hands, the groundskeepers,the gardeners, the milkmaids, the wet nurse, the…
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Holy sh*t!! I am a one-man stimulus package!

Dee, I’m guessing that she had other issues and that she probably didn’t want to deal with the public scrutiny. Some Dems, it seems, have shame.

And Dee, even a true believer like you can understand why there is scrutiny here. How many Obama nominees have issues? Holder, Daschle, Geithner, Solis? And now her?

My question still holds re: Rangel. Any smart Dems wanna argue that there is no tax due from Rangel’s sweetheart rentals? Maybe Time Magazine can have one of its reporters ask Rangel’s people about the tax implications of the rental property.

Remember when Clinton was trying to fill his Attorney General slot with a woman and it seemed that several of them had “nanny” issues? This is starting to remind me a lot of that. And just like Nanny-Gate, in a few months we will hardly remember this at all.

But $900 in 2005 that she paid in 2005. Unemployment compensation, which implies that she paid fica, and medicare because unemployment is the only thing they mentioned.
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the original story cited used DC tax records as its source — records that would not provide information on unpaid federal liabilities. In other words, there is no reason to conclude that she was paying federal taxes for this housekeeper because the article doesn’t mention a federal tax liability.
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What kills me is that, despite all the publicity there has been about paying taxes on domestic help, people with gobs of money continue to ignore the law. The fact that Killefer had an actual lien imposed on her property means that she ignored notices from DC that she had a tax liability — and only paid up when it got to the point where the District was in a position to sell her house out from under her should she not pay the tax.

Wow, apparently it’s pretty hard to find anyone in washington who actually pays their taxes. I guess it’s confusing when you have household help, chauffeurs, vacations sponsored by lobbyists, etc.

$900 isn’t very much and a lien can be imposed without the government proving negligence on the part of the taxpayer. A lien might well be imposed while the taxpayer is disputing the tax authority’s judgment.

Why do we assume that the D.C. tax folks have it right here?

What kills me is that, despite all the publicity there has been about paying taxes on domestic help, people with gobs of money continue to ignore the law.
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Exactly. I have no sympathy whatsoever for anyone who doesn’t pay the appropriate household worker taxes. When I had a child in 1964, my mother warned me to pay taxes on my full time child care person. She had a cleaning woman a few years before who begged her not to deduct social security because she wanted more money. After the woman retired, she reported my mother for not having paid the taxes, so she had to pay with penalty and interest. Obviously that made an impression in our household, but after all the publicity in the Clinton admin, how could anyone not know?

Does she have a private Postal Assistant that can get her letter to Obama faster than Daschle?

Why do we assume that the D.C. tax folks have it right here?
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well, she was employing (and paying) a housekeeper, and not paying the taxes that employers have to pay.
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Perhaps Killefer was trying to get away with calling the housekeeper an “independent contractor”, but that particular tax dodge ended long ago (in general, if you supervise someone you are paying for a service, or tell them how to do their job, they’re employees, not independent contractors. And housekeepers don’t fall into the category of “unsupervised” personnel.)

spob: Dee, you’re just plain ignorant. The real estate company was not required to rent 3 of the 4 properties to Rangel at rent-controlled rates, yet it did so.”
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Well at the risk of sounding even more ignorant, is it possible for you to disagree and have an exchange of ideas with resorting to name calling?
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“and stop playing the race card. It’s pathetic”
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first, let me say that the idea that you don’t know the term race card in an of itself is offensive tells me all I need to know about your level of intelligence.
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But rather than stooping to name calling. Why is my concern for the whether the residents of Harlem have reasonable access to their political leaders in anyway manipulating the situation because of race? Is his constituents not primarily African American from Harlem? Aren’t they disproportionately, poor and working class? If offices were leased at market value, wouldn’t he have to either get rid of the office or use more tax payer funds to keep them open? And since he uses these apartments for offices rather than residences, which btw was the problem, why would there be a personal tax liability when you get to deduct your business offices as an expense?
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“And Dee, even a true believer like you can understand why there is scrutiny here.”
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Now I may be misinformed about this issue and I welcome an exchange of ideas, but lets not confuse your ability to type the words “true believer” with an acceptance that what you believe is true.

While I know it is my patriotic duty to pay taxes, apparently there are some loop holes. I personally intend now to run for office so that I can get a pass on my taxes!

At least Ms. Killefer had the dignity to step aside, so a plus for her. It shows respect for the office and the people of this country. Our elected officials do not see themselves as the same as the common man. They are more important, and more special. While during election cycles they preach about needing to rid ourselves of the divisiveness of race, economic status and political parties, they seek to divide themselves from us as a ruling class versus those that serve the rulers. America was founded on the concept that things work the opposite. The power does not rest with our elected officials, but with the citzens who put them there.

This smacks of two things:
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1) The regular folks on here should understand that when you get to making over $125k a year or so you taxes get complicated. In fact, I would argue that it is entirely too complicated. The tax code should be dramatically simplified for the upper income earners. For those filing basic 1040s and 1040ez’s, you should never have a problem.
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2) Tax records should be subject to open records for everyone. Nobody likes a tax cheat, but the IRS catches tons of folks cheating across all income spectrums every year. Just lay the books open and then everyone can rest assured that their neighbor is paying their fair share.

American citizens pretty much have one affirmative duty: Pay taxes.
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Unfortunately, that was too much of a duty for the Chief Performance Officer candidate to perform.
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Man, I hate these people.
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BTW, I would love nothing more than to know how many of the highly-paid talking heads are tax dodgers.

[...] Posted by Karen Tumulty | Comments (0) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This Here we go again. A modest [...]

Why do we assume that the D.C. tax folks have it right here?
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dester23 — because they don’t know very much about DC government. I couldn’t get the link to work but you can look this up for yourself if you want.

May 21, 2008
Capitol Hill Resident Finds Computer Glitch in Tax Office
It’s almost as if the District’s Office of Tax and Revenue has been looking for more ways to come across as a bunch of buffoons. Today the Examiner reports on how one persistent Capitol Hill resident, Noah Meyerson, was responsible for forcing the office to fix an error they had not even detected which allowed roughly 300 homeowners to skip out on an entire property tax payment last year.

The tax office is naturally downplaying the mistake, arguing the error only accounted for less than one percent of the city’s tax revenues. But given the year the Office of Tax and Revenue has had, small mistakes like these really do add up to a larger picture of total incompetence.

bryanfromhouston: tax documents cannot be laid bare like that for everyone. You don’t have the right to know how I earn or spend my money and I don’t have the right to know that from you. I’d rather have tax cheats and the right to privacy.

Dee, you spoke as an expert. That’s what got the response. And you brought up the irrelevant issue of race, that’s what got the race card response.

You’re also wrong about the office issue. His office is one of the apartments, not three.

The bottom line is that the landlord is not required to lease these apartments to Rangel at rent-controlled rates, yet it does so. Putting aside the office point, why isn’t he liable for tax on that benefit?

And as for you being a true believer, I think it’s amazing how you pooh-pooh the behavior of those on the team. That’s what prompted my response.

And while we’re at it, why isn’t Sen. Dodd and Sen. Conrad liable for tax on the sweetheart loan they got from Countrywide? They should be paying tax on that benefit too.

destor23 right to privacy? ha read the the fine print in the Patriot Act. It’s gone my friend.

Keywords: “distraction and delay.”
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Take a bow for your complicity, Michael.

This just in from TAX CHEATS B DEMS…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_killefer

….

I SURE AS HELL HOPE & CHANGE THAT SKIPPY O’BONGER DOES A MUCH, MUCH, MUCH BETTER JOB VETTING OUR ENEMIES IN GITMO THAN HE DOES HIS LOBBYIST FRIENDS IN D.C.

What a group, and what an ugly, above-it-all non-start to a lackluster POTUS admin.

Are you angry, hula? Why do numbskulls like you always type in all caps?

YO, OBAMA:

NICE VETTING.

NOT.

“Obama took no questions Tuesday after announcing his choice of Sen. Judd Gregg to be commerce secretary. He left the White House lectern ignoring a shouted question about why so many of his nominees have tax problems.”

What a freakin DWEEB.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090203/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_killefer

The New Math for 2009:

Obamite DNCer from Ivy League = TAX CHEAT

Some loose change, eh?

May as well have elected Hillary, for all the loose change.

Palininatowel… the all-caps are frustration. I think H is finally figuring out commenters here are not playing her reindeer games & it’s irking her mightily. Maybe if she’s post something worthwhile to respond to she’d get what she wants, but like most wingnuts, there’s not much to even try to unpack. Poor dear. Maybe she’ll just dry up and go away… eventually.