President Obama's pick for treasury secretary found himself on the hot seat today before the Senate Finance Committee.

By all accounts, Tim Geithner seems like a bright guy. In fact, I'm sure he is. He worked for the International Monetary Fund during the early 2000's and easily could have made millions in the private sector. So, it doesn't seem all that likely Geithner 'needed' the
34-thousand dollars he failed to pay in social security and medicare taxes back then.

But today, Geithener found himself having to explain the tax 'mistake.' He apologized to the committee, calling his actions careless and said he had made good on the debt and come clean about the error years ago.

The explanation will be enough for some--not all. There will be those who debate whether there is something more sinister here. That's old school Washington, and I'm yet to be convinced the excitment and history we witnessed yesterday will change things overnight.

Tim Geithner will be confirmed, Here's my concern. If a bright guy like Geithner can't figure out the tax codes, how can I? What the Geithner situation seems to suggest is that we need to simplfiy the tax codes--for the sake of the treasurey secretary and for you and me.

1 Comments

Chillin said:

The global economy will be a snap compared to doing taxes!

January 21, 2009 5:42 PM

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