Hello Pot? This is Kettle. You’re Black.

Since the last couple days have been spent on taxes, I thought this would make some of us laugh, in that way we laugh when someone says something about our mom. You want to punch them in the face, instead you laugh and tell them with a smile, “Dude, don’t talk about my mom”. In a laughable turn of events Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner issued a warning to all those out there that dodge your taxes.
 

Good old Timmy boy decided that when he addressed the House Ways and Means Committee the other day that he and the Obama administration will be going after people who evade and evade taxes in a very aggressive way. This was a prepared speech, not an off the cuff remark. He said the President is intent on “tackling tax shelters and other efforts to abuse our tax laws, including international tax evasion efforts.” I had to admit that my head went on a swivel because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

He went on to say, “Over the next several months, the President will propose a series of legislative and enforcement measures to reduce such U.S. tax evasion and avoidance.” This comes in the wake of the Swiss bank scandal where it is estimated that between 19,000 and 52,000 Americans were sent a letter from the bank advising them that the bank was willing to help them take their earnings and put them out of the reach of the federal government. In the scandal UBS Bank helped thousands of Americans create fake accounts and avoid paying federal income tax on the money, to the tune of some $20 Billion. 

As you all know I don’t condone breaking the law. That being said, I often do understand why people do so. I don’t like illegal immigration, but I understand why someone trying to support their family comes across the border to do so. I don’t like someone selling illegal drugs, but I understand the economic realities that seem to force people to do so. I don’t like a mother taking a baseball bat to someone who was in court for molesting their child, but I understand the reason she would do so (Wait, maybe I do like her doing so). I don’t like people manipulating the election laws and stealing an election like Al Franken is doing, but I understand how the desire to “serve the people” is more important than some stupid constitutional law. Wait, scratch that last one too. 

OK, maybe I got too far away from serious towards the end of that last paragraph. I don’t like tax avoidance. But given the radical fervor the new administration has for increasing the amount of money they steal from the rich to give to the poor (by poor I mean the hard working Americans below the poverty level. I do not mean the welfare queens who squirt out kids to get more government cheese or the lazy folks who would rather sit on their ass than work hard and take care of their families. I mean no administration would suggest that we give those folks even more money, right??), I understand why wealthy Americans may be moving their wealth out of the reach of this new robber who wants to take even more of it.

But I digress here. Because the point is that the man who was speaking to congress and vowing to aggressively pursue those who evade paying their taxes to the federal government, Timothy Geithner, did not pay his taxes. To the tune of $34,000. No he didn’t use some evasion scheme. He just simply didn’t pay them. He claimed he didn’t know he had to pay them. The man who we have running our Treasury Department in the United States of America did not know he had to pay taxes on his earnings. Even when his accountant pointed out that he must do so, he chose not to. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. 

A man that didn’t pay his taxes just went before Congress and vowed that he will lead the charge to catch those horrible people who don’t pay their taxes. Oh the gall of these piece of shit politicians.

And before Mr. Hypocrite starts too far with this campaign against the dirty tax evaders, he had best think about what he is doing. Because it seems to me that a real investigation into all of those who evade paying taxes is going to find some things he doesn’t want found. Like the fact that probably more than half those doing so originate in the halls of Washington. I am not saying anything, but let’s review the administration’s recent cabinet picks…

Tom Daschle, Obama’s pick to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, had to bow out when it was disclosed that he had failed to pay $128,000 in back taxes. Nancy Killefer, who was appointed by Obama to scrutinize government spending for the OMB, also had to withdraw her nomination because of tax issues. And just a day before Geithner’s appearance in the House, Obama’s designated Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, told the Senate Finance Committee that he owed some $10,000 in back taxes that he had agreed to pay. Add to this Representative Hilda Solis, whose husband had some tax liens going back 16 years until the day before her committee vote as Labor secretary. But who in their right mind would hold a wife responsible for her husband’s financial problems, even if they did start the same year she was elected to the state legislature?

But hey, I am sure that these were all just anomalies right? And after all, they all, just like Geithner, once caught agreed to pay the taxes they weren’t paying. So it’s all good. I hope I get the same treatment if I ever legitimately mess up on my taxes. It is good to know that not playing by the rules at least gives me a 50/50 shot. 50% chance I will go to jail. 50% chance I will go to Congress. I like those odds.