Tales of the Heliosphere

President Barack Obama promised change when he ran for President and change he brought. When Republicans were in charge, there was a culture of corruption in Washington. Now there's a culture of tax evasion: Timothy Geithner (here), Charles Rangel (here), and now Tom Daschle.

Daschle, former million dollar "special policy advisor" to the lobbying firm of Alston and Bird (here), visited Capitol Hill to make the case for his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Because he's the second tax cheat nominated by President Obama for a cabinet position, Daschle had to spend the day dealing with his personal tax problem. Or as the Associated Press put it:

"Fighting to salvage his Cabinet nomination, Tom Daschle apologized from morning to night on Monday for failing to pay more than $120,000 in federal taxes." (Here.)

Sorry, morning to night is not enough. Even apologizing from now to April 15th won't cut it, although there would be poetic justice if he did.

Vice-President Joe Biden said during the campaign that it's patriotic to pay higher taxes. Not to question Daschle's patriotism, that's apparently a job for Vice-President Biden, but Daschle's tax dodge suggests that, when it comes to taxes, he believes dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

-tdr

Labels: America, Politics, Taxes