The Geithner Affair

Obama's pick for Treasury secretary had a tax problem. A $48,000 tax problem to be exact. According to this article in The New York Times:

But Mr. Obama said Mr. Geithner had made a common mistake and corrected it.

and

The controversy over his taxes, as it happens, goes to the one area where Mr. Geithner has the least experience, despite serving 13 years at the Treasury Department: domestic tax policy.

Excuse me?! A COMMON MISTAKE?! Let me 'splain something to you Mr. President-elect, any person looking for employment at the IRS (the largest bureau under Treasury) would be smoking dope to expect a job offer after making a mistake like that. And if employed when said mistake was made, they could expect to lose several days pay at the least, if not their job. The IRS has very low tolerance for tax cheats within their ranks. Lack of experience only buys you some leeway in deciding the disciplinary action, you still pay a price for being stupid.

Why the H-E-double hockey stick should we accept a leader who was seriously delinquent on his taxes? Especially since he acknowledged his obligation? I am not buying lack of experience as an excuse. And the fact that he acknowledged his obligation would immediately raise the issue of willful evasion if he were an employee.

You know, if I was Colleen Kelly, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President I'd be leveraging this little discovery during my current, ongoing negotiations with IRS on the new master contract. Oh yeah buddy. If we can have a Fearless Leader at the top of the heap who is a tax delinquent, why punish the little guy pushing paper further down with a loss of income or employment?

This is beyond annoying, and I'll stop now.