Is there any Democrat in politics that is honest on their taxes ?  The 
chap running the IRS doesn't even know the tax code .....


================================

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/01/bumps-in-the-ro.html

Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent 
Jake Tapper

Bumps in the Road: Obama's HHS Secretary Nominee Faces Tax Questions 
Over Car and Driver
January 30, 2009 6:29 PM

ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority 
Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama's Secretary of Health 
and Human Services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate 
Finance Committee. 

The controversy deals with a car and driver lent to Daschle by a wealthy 
Democratic friend, a chauffeur service the former senator used for years 
without declaring it on his taxes. 

It remains an open question as to whether this is a "speed bump," as a 
Democratic Senate ally of Daschle put it, or something more damaging.

After being defeated in his 2004 re-election campaign to the Senate, 
Daschle in 2005 became a consultant and chairman of the Executive 
Advisory Board at InterMedia Advisors.

Based in New York City, InterMedia Advisors is a private equity firm 
founded in part by longtime Daschle friend and Democratic fundraiserLeo 
Hindery, the former president of the YES network (the Yankees' and 
Devils' broadcast network).

That same year he began his professional relationship with InterMedia 
2005, Daschle began using the services of Hindery's car and driver.

The Cadillac and driver were never part of Daschle's official 
compensation package at InterMedia but Mr. Daschle -- who as Senate 
majority leader enjoyed the use of a car and driver at taxpayer expense -
- didn't declare their services on his income taxes, as tax laws 
require.

During the vetting process to become HHS secretary, Daschle corrected 
the tax violation, voluntarily paying $101,943 in back taxes plus 
interest, working with his accountant to amend his tax returns for 2005 
through 2007. 

(Mr. Daschle reimbursed the IRS $31,462 in taxes and interest for tax 
year 2005; $35,546 for 2006; and $34,935, a Daschle spokesperson said, 
adding that Daschle had asked his accountant to look into the tax 
implications of the car and driver five months before Mr. Obama won the 
presidency.)

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., 
has called his colleagues for a private meeting at 5 p.m. ET Monday to 
discuss these complications surrounding Daschle's nomination.

The Daschle spokesperson told ABC News that the senator, facing 
questions from the committee, has said "he deeply regretted his mistake. 
When he realized it was a mistake he corrected it rapidly."

This is the second Cabinet nominee of President Obama's to face 
questions of tax malfeasance. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner paid more 
than $34,000 in taxes during his vetting process for income earned at 
the International Monetary Fund. Earlier, Commerce Secretary nominee 
Bill Richardson withdrew his name from consideration after reports of a 
federal investigation involving whether his office engaged in pay to 
play, a charge Richardson denied.

The spokesperson said, by way of explaining how it was this happened: 
"In 2005, Sen. Daschle's close friend Leo Hindery, who lives in New 
York, offered him the use of a car and driver in Washington when he was 
not using it. That same year, they began a formal business relationship 
where he was an independent consultant and chairman of the external 
advisory board to InterMedia Advisors. The car was not provided as part 
of his compensation. So it never occurred to him that it should be 
considered income. The senator simply and probably naively considered 
its use a generous offer by a longtime friend." 

Neither the White House nor businessman Leo Hindery had any comment. 
Daschle has personally refrained from commenting.

Daschle came before the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions 
Committee for a hearing on Jan. 8, 2009, and it was a veritable love-in, 
with the respected former colleague praised to the high heavens. 

But staffers at the Senate Finance Committee are generally a little more 
exacting -- witness the stormy weather faced by Treasury Secretary Tim 
Geithner, for his back-tax snafus -- and they have been delving into the 
issue and exploring all the ramifications before holding a committee 
vote on his nomination.

The Daschle spokesperson insisted that the senator is the one who should 
get credit for discovering, fixing and disclosing the tax issue. 

"In June 2008, Sen. Daschle mentioned the use of the car to his personal 
accountant and asked him if there were any potential tax consequences," 
the spokesperson said. "His accountant said that there could be tax 
consequences and said he was going to fix them as part of Daschle's 2008 
filing. So when he got down to vetting, Sen. Daschle decided to amend 
his returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007, and he paid all the taxes. At the 
urging of Daschle, the accountant was very conservative in his 
estimates."

Daschle has long been one of President Obama's closest advisers, so it 
was no surprise when the mild-mannered pol was named Obama's nominee to 
be HHS Secretary shortly after Obama won election; his official 
nomination came Dec. 11, 2008. 

Should Daschle have difficulty being confirmed -- a prospect that seems 
unlikely given the benefit of the doubt senators frequently extend to 
one another, not to mention the Senate's Democratic majority -- he 
doesn't have to worry about finding another job in the administration, 
since President Obama has also appointed him to serve as director of the 
new White House Office on Health Reform.

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Demcoarts --  The party of death ......

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