Another one… [1]
Cabinet-pick Kirk owes $10,000 in back taxes
WASHINGTON – Ron Kirk’s excess deductions for basketball tickets and failure to report speaking fees as income have cost him $10,000 in back taxes, a Senate committee disclosed Monday, in the latest IRS-related embarrassment for an Obama Cabinet pick.
The problems are the first indication of potential trouble for Kirk’s nomination to be U.S. trade representative, though White House officials and key senators called the errors minor and predicted the former Dallas mayor will be confirmed by the Senate.
And who was the senator who declared the issue to be a minor issue? Why it was the illustrious “I got my high speed train from L.A. to Vegas in the stimulus bill” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of course!
“When you put anybody’s tax filings under a microscope, people don’t have to be dishonest,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “It’s just hard to do all the right things. It certainly shouldn’t disqualify him.”
In Senator Reid’s defence, I suppose it is small compared to the other tax problems in the cabinet, but really, how many more of these tax problems are we going to find?
Samuel