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Good Grief

Posted By Jennifer Rubin On March 2, 2009 @ 6:25 PM In Contentions | 14 Comments

The A.P. [1] reports:

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.

Apparently there is a shortage of qualified Democrats who have paid their taxes. Query whether a better solution to the Obama budgetary revenue shortfall would be an en masse nomination of Obama’s wealthy donors to top spots. That alone would stand to bring in millions to the federal coffers.

But the issue remains for senators: is tax cheating simply the new norm for cabinet nominees? All tax cheats can breathe easy, I suppose, if not paying your taxes is no longer a barrier to high office. Well, provided the majority party in the Senate matches the party in the White House. Otherwise, it’s an outrage.

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14 Comments To "Good Grief"

#1 Comment By Charles Flemming On March 2, 2009 @ 6:32 PM

Judging from Mr. Kirk’s tenure down here as Dallas mayor, and looking at the nature of his tax issues, I would recommend that he be given the benefit of any doubt that hasn’t already been sucked up by the genuine scofflaws Obama nominated earlier.

Ron Kirk is liberal, but I’m convinced he’s a man of integrity. If he were trying to make extra money, he could have avoided being Dallas mayor, which basically basically pays a stipend, and continued his lucrative law practice. In other words, this is not a man who has spent his entire adult life either on the public dole or amassing great personal wealth.

Let’s give him a break…

#2 Comment By Rob Dawson On March 2, 2009 @ 6:58 PM

Obama is a crook, so he attracts those like him.

#3 Comment By Jonas Menchik On March 2, 2009 @ 7:03 PM

so, they new line from our representatives – “Hey, I could have made a lot more money not serving the citizens of Dallas. At least let me cheat on my taxes. I am an elitist!”

give me a break!

#4 Comment By Dead_Ender On March 2, 2009 @ 7:21 PM

What! Another tax cheat in the Obama/Biden Administration.

Dollars to donuts, if his records were actually examined, I bet we’d find that B.Hussein Obama was a tax cheat, too.

Any takers?

#5 Comment By Joe On March 2, 2009 @ 8:04 PM

Thanks Michael Steele for knocking this story off in favor of your brew ha ha with Rush Limbaugh.

#6 Comment By williamssmith On March 2, 2009 @ 8:33 PM

A modest proposal: expand the cabinet to 2,000,000 positions. Have President Obama name 2,000,000 Democratic fat-cats (see Kevin Williamson on how Democrats are now the party of Wall Street) to cabinet posts. Let the nominees be vetted for tax evasion. Have them pay up. Voila: fiscal crisis solved.

#7 Comment By A Conservative Teacher On March 2, 2009 @ 8:34 PM

Perhaps there is a deeper meaning here? That Democrats are hypocrites- that they want people to pay higher taxes, and yet want to pay no taxes themselves? That fits with the ideology of typical liberals- Obama wants me to turn my air conditioning down, but cranks it up in the White House, Gore wants me to drive a bike and yet has a houseboat and mansion and jet, etc. A hallmark of liberals is their dishonesty about their own lives and behaviors- we see it on display now. Who voted for this guy? Stand up and be counted.

#8 Comment By franglo On March 2, 2009 @ 9:25 PM

I voted for Obama. Stay away from my kids. Any “teacher” who makes smug generalizations about “them” isn’t fit to teach.

#9 Comment By Alexander Almasov On March 2, 2009 @ 9:36 PM

Ahh, baisegueule, the judge of the fit and the unfit….

#10 Comment By aardvarck On March 2, 2009 @ 9:37 PM

Uh, Franglo–I think you just made a smug generalization. I guess self-knowledge isn’t your long suit.

#11 Pingback By Qualification to be in Obama Administration – Have a Tax Problem « Random Thoughts On March 2, 2009 @ 10:47 PM

[...] Here we go again! [...]

#12 Comment By Ed Lilly On March 3, 2009 @ 7:28 AM

“All tax cheats can breathe easy, I suppose, if not paying your taxes is no longer a barrier to high office. Well, provided the majority party in the [Media] matches the party in the White House. Otherwise, it’s an outrage.”

Fixed that for you.

#13 Comment By Bob Miller On March 3, 2009 @ 10:00 AM

If (!) Republicans are more likely to pay their taxes, wouldn’t that reinforce the Democrats’ urge to raise the rates?

#14 Pingback By Another Day, Another Tax Cheat in the Obama Cabinet « Rantings of mine On March 3, 2009 @ 8:19 PM

[...] Day, Another Tax Cheat in the Obama Cabinet In crime, politics on March 4, 2009 at 01:19 Today it was Ron Kirk. It was only ten [...]

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[1] A.P.: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2Q9EmGBNdbltY9Ta5OzkoeLw0ugD96M4OD00