Oops! Daschle 'Forgot' To Report Free Car and Driver
By Susie Madrak Saturday Jan 31, 2009 9:00amHey, I know I always forget to report my free car and driver - I just got used to it as a well-known blogger!
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, President Barack Obama's nominee for the secretary of Health and Human Services, paid around $100,000 in back taxes after his nomination to pay for a car and driver he was supplied but did not report as income, according to documents being prepared by the Senate Finance Committee.
Mr. Daschle also took two vacation trips aboard a $30 million corporate jet belonging to non-profit lender EduCap, which faces a separate probe by the Finance Committee into its tax status.
The issues will dominate a closed-door meeting of the committee called for Monday afternoon, according to committee aides. His confirmation has been held up for weeks as committee staff pours over tax records and business ties of the former Senate majority leader.
A Daschle spokeswoman didn't respond immediately to requests for comment.
On the back-tax issue, Mr. Daschle was supplied a luxury car and driver by InterMedia Advisors, LLP, an investment firm specializing in buyouts and industry consolidation. Mr. Daschle served as chairman of the firm's executive advisory board. He told committee staff he had grown used to having a car and driver as majority leader and did not think to report the perk on his taxes, according to staff members.
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First, we simply need to put an end to perks provided by lobbyists to anybody. Can't they use that money to help people who actually need help?
Secondly, I think that we should reprimand them. After all, I would get fired from my job if I accepted perks from vendors.
..he can any longer be fined or reprimanded, being that he is no longer a Senator. But I do think that he should withdraw his nomination. or Obama should is he refuses to.
I can't trust anybody for that position who is pro-insurance industry.
Daschle doesn't think taxes are for the elite; they are only for the little people.
In too many cases lately it seems that our tax laws are too confusing. There is a difference between willful evasion and mistakes, and one wonders why so many of these mistakes are not caught by the IRS. Billions of dollars in unpaid taxes go unnoticed each year...
Maybe this is yet another signal that our tax codes need to be simplified a bit?
The people getting caught evading taxes are the ones that wrote the laws! Yet another tax cheat caught. How many is that since the new administration started picking? Great, get rid of Repub crooks and replace them with Dem crooks.
what would have happened if Daschle hadn't been tagged as Secretary of HHS? This never would have been an issue. Same with Geithner.
I say, nominate every current and living former member of congress for a cabinet position.
An easy way to help reduce the budget deficit
that's funny. I bet the IRS would see an influx of cash if that happened. All these a-holes scrambling to pay their taxes.
it might be a way to balance the budget, put people to work.
nice
of a crap vat we're in, it's THAT good of an idea!
these guys have access to accountants. housing and transportation are clearly part of compensation. if they can discover these things after being nominated, they can figure it out beforehand. i believe he should withdraw.
My dad was paid in this manner. And his accountant made sure everything was declared and above board, because it was his job to see that my dad's money made the most for him. Setting him up to take a fall on tax evasion would have been tantamount to malfeasance.
When dad died, the probate atty said if Woody had lived in Seattle, she'd hire him to work exclusively for her firm. She'd never seen such a magnificent job of accounting in her 15 or so years as an atty who specialised in business.
is there any hope for this country at all when everyone in DC is neck deep in this kinda shit? This guy is supposed to run HHS? I'm sure that he will fight big insurance just as hard as he can. Fat Chance.
I can't get past this taxpayer malfeasance; I hope that Daschle withdraws quickly so we can get a new candidate. There is no reason except greed for this kind of 'mistake' on taxes.
I don't understand how people who "forgot" to pay their taxes can seriously be considered (and appointed - Geithner) to high office? Frankly, I never liked Daschle for a number of other reasons but this should disqualify him. Isn't the Obama team concerned that their new slogan will be "Tax Cheat? - Join us!"
Jeebus.
I think Obama should look for someone else. Daschle appears to be too out of touch with the "mainstream" to recognize what needs to be done. I'm unemployed and my taxes are paid in full so I'm open if needed.
Peace!
If someone loaned you a car for an extended period of time, would you even think to report it on your taxes? I wouldn't. It's not like he forgot to submit his 1040.
How do you define, "extended period of time," and, "loan?"
We're not talking about Daschle's mom letting him use her old jalopy to run errands & volunteer for Meals On Wheels. We're not even talking about a bonus for a job well done, a la Mary Kay.
Do you have many business associates who loan you a car AND a servant to do the driving for you?
named in his contract as part of his compensation for a job, then it's income. Why is everyone having so much trouble with this concept?
Daschle himself admits it was income and claims he simply "forgot" to include it on his tax return. That should settle the damned argument as to whether it was income or not and the POINT is his possible ethical lapse in "forgetting" to pay taxes on it.
does that have to be reported too?
i never knew that...
how in the world is that considered compensation
the car doesnt really belong to you
you're not putting wear and tear on your own vehicle.
Also, many company car arrangements stipulate that the company pays for it's maintainence.
A company car is part of the job.
A car and driver is part of a compensation package, and would no doubt be mentioned in the contract that Daschle signed when he agreed to
pimp that bitchwork for the company.but i still cant see how its taxable
if the car becomes yours...fine
just like if you win a car on a game show
but daschle didnt get to keep the car
i mean, 100k???
tax law is wacky
My dad was a lobbyist. It's not like a regular job. You pimp your skills to a john, and he decides if what you want to charge is what he'll pay. Then the lobbyist presents the buyer of his services with a contract, which lays out, in great detail and legalese, how compensation will be handled.
Compensation=pay=income=taxable.
My dad had stuff like he would only travel first class or private jet, stay in 5 star hotels in a certain grade of room while on business. If he had gotten a car and driver, his corporation have been liable for that, as it would have been compensation.
I don't know if, when doing the tax thing, he had to declare as income any upgrades to travel or accommodations, but it really wouldn't surprise me.
He was also a Type S Corporation which would significantly reduce his tax obligation. And might have included being able to have a car and driver without the tax burden, that falling to his corporation at a lower rate, I believe.
Rules of the game change quite a bit when you incorporate or go LLP or LLC.
If Daschle was not incorporated, an LLP or an LLC, and did not employ the services of a CPA specialising in executive compensation, he's too fucking stupid for the job. Really.
If the car is strictly for business use, I would think that it would be non-taxable. But, if Daschle used it to drive back and forth from home to the office (personal use), including the driver, that almost certainly is taxable. Certainly, if he used that car to go on a weekend personal trip, that should be taxable.
It could also be that as part of a contract Daschle might have signed with that investment firm, the car was part of his compensation....so therefore, it should be taxed.
Then, again, I really don't know tax law as it relates to vehicles.
if you work in the car while being driven to work -- I think it's work use
If you take it to SD's version of the Hamptons for the weekend and your family's all crammed in the car, you and the wife are tossing back appletinis, that has the appearance of 'not working.'
That's why, really smart guys like my dad would be working as their own employee (by being a corporation or an LLp or an LLC), and having a specialist pay attention to his spending and usage issues. Someone who'll tell him where the line is.
But the best way to be in a grey area where taxes are concerned when you make more money than Christ, is to NOT give yourself the benefit of the doubt, but to give more than your share. It pays off in the long run as stupid shit like this proves over and over again.
Should not be the head of H&HS. Obama needs to send a clear message to Wall Street that he is against anybody who has a $30 million dollar jet. That includes those in his cabinet. Tom's wife Linda is a lobbyist for the airline industry. She bailed out American and Northwest Airlines and works for Boeing, pharmaceutical companies, defense contractors, etc. Tom is married to a lobbyist, not just benefiting from them on the side. If we want universal health care, this may not be the best choice to head the H&HS.
know that. This shit is just insane. You're right, if his wife is a lobbiest then how the hell can we be assured that he will work on our behalf.
You can't.
lol love the hint of sarcasm at the beginning there suzie.
I used to subscribe to Car & Driver magazine and I didn't know I had to pay taxes on it.
I used to subscribe to Car Toons.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...
Isn't this sort of like aiding and abetting the enemy..
Isn't this what the financial corporations are doing with money put on a credit card in "OUR" name... Our elected officials are living in a different world then we are.
********On the back-tax issue, Mr. Daschle was supplied a luxury car and driver by InterMedia Advisors, LLP, an investment firm specializing in """buyouts""" and industry consolidation.****
Surely the President can find someone without these problems. Not everyone has been Majority Leader of the Senate with a car perk. Besides, he didn't pay the taxes until they came out during his vetting process. Don't give the wingers anything to talk about. You could probably audit all them, since they hate paying taxes so much, and find similar issues on every one of them.
...says the headline of the linked article. Are we to assume that had he not been vetted, he would have not been forthcoming with this info?
If *I* 'forgot' to mention I had a car and driver, gratis, and free trips on a private jet, I'm sure the gov't would take my benefits away, post haste, no dicking around...
this is really disappointing, but not 100% surprising. Both parties ARE the same after all...
Between corrupt incompetent officials and corrupt competent officials, I'll take the competent ones. We desperately need qualified people in these positions. I don't happen to know if Daschle is qualified or competent but if he is, I could live with his tax cheatin ways as long as he's penalized for em.
This sounds like a republican problem. Greedy poll takes money and doesn't pay the tax on it.
But it is all part of the bigger problem, the revolving door in washington.
There is no one in the republican party that is there for any other reason then what they can get out of it, and very few dems.
Lets clean them out next election! New faces all around!
then you have a bunch of new faces. Same shit, with the DC infrastructure. I don't even think Mr Smith would get out of today's DC unscathed. And look what was done to that 'new face,' Jimmy Carter. He was reviled and kicked to the curb and set up by the Thugs with the Iran hostage shit.
No siree, new faces all around isn't gonna fix this broken POS gummint.
"...It's a lost cause, but the lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for..."
"No siree, new feces all around isn't gonna fix this broken POS gummint."
meet the new sh!t, same as the old sh!t.
... i just sounds like another politician tripping over his sense of entitlement and his belief in the position he holds amongst the nobility in our "classless" society being sacrosanct.
I'm not a republican or even a Republican supporter but let's not pretend that they invented or have some kind of 100% monopoly on graft, corruption or "honest mistakes"... although I'll have to admit that during the 109th congress I was beginning to waver a bit on my convictions.
like I remember hearing on a Chomsky C.D. He was talking about John Dewey's quote "Government is the shadow cast by business over society" and said that we can't focus on the shadow. We need to look at who cast the shadow and why. Of course, the way Chomsky described it was better than what I did, but that is the main point. As long as big business has got it's foot on our throats, it doesn't matter who we elect.
that C&L is even commenting on this. The old party line at this site seemed to be ignore, ignore, and ignore. Why the change?
[Uh-have you never changed your mind? Are you exactly the same as the day you were born, or got out of high school, before you had kids? And this is a contributor's POV. It's not a big pond of group think here. Some of our writers have differing opinions than others. John does not require his writers to think his way, and I'll add, since he did not write this, I have no idea as to his opinion on the subject-Sitemonitor]
Ok Daschle has got to go. Now who should replace him? I'm having trouble on this. Sonja Gupta? Uh how about... uh... um... I'm having trouble here. Can somebody help me?
'Sanjay', right? Sonja works in IT.
he gave me a bad case of the 'beige flu'. He makes Harry Reid look like Conan the Destroyer. Now we find he's a d'ohp on top of it.
Thanks, Tom. Save me a seat on the bus.
like this?
That rocked!
the googles, sometimes...
I'd like to see Arnold Schwarzenegger leave politics and star in a movie version of Groo The Wanderer.
whether it's Daschle or some other party hack, they'll make damn sure single-payer universal health care is even more difficult to get to than ever before. Meet the news boss, yada in yada with yada for yada.
He's grown so used to his comfy perks he just plain forgets about them -- guess he's got a cup-bearer to bring him his drinks and wipes his flabby cracker ass with mink toilet paper too.
Can't take it with you, Tom! Memento mori.
but I still report it.
Any competent accountant would have told Thurston Daschle III, here, the same thing.
What was he using? TurboFlunkie?!
...about this is that it just goes to show that liberals can actually criticize and mock their own (unlike repubs who only attack libs and defend their own). Of course, it's also one reason we generally lose (in addition to the fact that we use logic instead of fear, reasoned arguments instead of soundbytes/screaming, etc.).
is that he doesn't come clean with it until after he's been nominated for a high level position and knows damned well it's going to come out. Sorry TD... you fail.
This guy forgets to pay more in taxes than most people earn.
Given the public mood toward this type of thing why would he even accept the position and why would Obama and company offer it to him in the first place?
You can not spend eight years decrying the "look the other way" attitude of the previous administration and then appoint one tax cheat after another to high positions. These people need to be squeaky clean or they need to get on down the road.
Thanks to Bush and company Obama does not have a lot of arrows in his quiver when it comes to adressing the problems of this country. He will need every ounce of credability as he goes along and this is not good way to earn it.
What is it with the people who write the laws not being able to follow them? I say we cut the rope and let Daschle go so that he doesn't put any more negative press on the Obama admin.
In fact, all of the politicos should not be allowed to take office if they did not pay their taxes.
Mistake, my ass.
Head-Desk.
Alright, can we get rid of him and as HOWARD DEAN, now? PLEASE?
I'll drink to that!
Let's double check for any unpaid taxes BEFORE we announce it.
Nothing personal, Dr. Dean.
As that article points out, the car and driver problem was to the tune of $250,000+- for a tax liability of $100,000+- (or was it $140,000+-?). Seems like an awfully expensive car/driver for only 3 years!
However, there was also "unreported" income to the tune of some $83,000+-, and Daschle also had to correct something like $14,000-$15,000 overreported charitable contributions.
Seems like an awful lot of money for a "mistake!"
Until recently, I lost my job, I made around 5oK a year. Now if I owed the IRS part of that 50K, they would rip me apart. I would have had a lien on my tax-refund check, a wage garnishment, a lien on my vehicle's title, all that shit. But these guys owe more in taxes than I make in 3 years and it only comes up when they go for a high profile job. Boy oh boy are we suckers.
Yeah right," I forgot". Bullshit, I counted Daschle as one of the honest goodfellas, not anymore. Obama, please cast him adrift. A little OT but I do not hear much from Dodd lately. Could it be that cushy Fannie Mae mortgage has something to do with his low profile. Fuckers. It is true you know, they are all looking like scum. Politicians suck.
I wonder if Rush is hitting the Oxycontin again. He sure is looking more bloated than usual these days.
because he sits in the EIB studio everyday eating kittens.
Oxy made him skinny. And deaf. I had to take Oxy, and it suppressed my appetite. Didn't care enough to eat.
The Obama crew could have done a better job of vetting these folks, IMHO.
Why are they giving the asshats more ammo to fling their way?
Are Geithner and Daschle's expertise worth the spanking that the administration's credibility will have to take?
Daschle's tax problem and lobbyist wife are going to cause more than a few black eyes.
On the other hand what is the political cost of shitcanning the idea of his appointment?
It might be a good way to send a clear and positive message about real change.
Howaed dean should have been his first choice in the first place but theres bad blood betwen dean and rahm emanuel for some reason
if it waznt for dean and his 50 state stratagy we might not have barack obama as prez rite now tell rahm to go pound sand and put a doctor a respected honest man in HHS someone that will work for us not the corprate sector like the last 8 years of bush
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