Clamoring for ‘fair share’ points to tax system in need of reform

By Kay B. Day

Calls for ‘my fair share’ frequently crop up in letters to the editor and comments threads on blogs these days. When the subject of taxes comes up, there’s always a person who claims the rich should pay more because the rich make more.

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Did Democrats set legal precedent by keeping Rangel as Ways and Means chair?

Commentary by Kay B. Day

Not surprisingly, Democrats shot down an effort by House Republicans to pass a resolution calling for removing Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means committee. By this action and others, it is entirely possible Democrats have indirectly banned punishment for tax infractions. Bear with me as I have some fun explaining my position. I believe the jails could be emptied of all tax evaders immediately, in fact.

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US Treasury mortgage fraud crackdown myriad days late, billions of dollars short

Mortgage foreclosure image from FBI.gov.Warning: this borders on a rant. Treasury secretary Tim Geithner is rattling the government saber, promising to “fight mortgage and foreclosure scams.” Geithner’s declaration comes myriad days and [at least] billions of dollars short. I first brought rampant mortgage fraud to the forefront in July, 2008 following up with a column in September. I cited a letter from Kenneth Kaiser, Assistant Director, the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI. Kaiser sent the letter to the editor of the L.A. Times after the paper, Kaiser wrote, “implied that if the FBI had made more arrests for mortgage fraud, the crisis could have been averted.” Kaiser’s letter is worth reading, the newspaper’s column isn’t worth your time.

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Aussie paper: Geithner a ‘gigantic fool’

A former Australian prime minister believes Geithner is far less than the wonder boy the US president believes him to be. [White House photo]If you blame former president George W. Bush alone for the economic conflagration, there’s no way you can ignore the meltdown former president Bill Clinton left behind.

U.S. newspapers, on learning Tim Geithner was headed to oversee the Obama administration’s Treasury Dept., focused on Geithner’s tax dodging and employment of illegal domestic help in vetting the new president’s pick. Media mentioned these infractions after praising Geithner as a boy wonder who orchestrated solutions for the Asian financial meltdown during the 1990s when Bill Clinton was president. But The Sydney Morning Herald said former Australian prime minister Paul Keating “gave a starkly different account of Geithner's record in handling the Asian crisis...”

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The Daschle that broke the taxpayer's back

Former senator Tom Daschle is the latest in Obama's circle to have tax problems. This U.S. Senate photo of Daschle makes him appear to be very happy about something--maybe all those thousands he saved by omitting certain items on his tax return.(Washington)—The latest Obama administration wannabe is another in a growing line of tax dodgers. Former senator Tom Daschle has joined Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), senatorial wannabe in Minnesota who will do anything to win a seat Al Franken, apologist-turned-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Nancy Killefer, who had her heart set on being the new chief performance officer, in a cast of characters who dodged taxes and apologized for doing so once the national eye was on their records.

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