The Daschle that broke the taxpayer's back

UPDATE
Former senator Tom Daschle has withdrawn as nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Daschle's tax problems aside, U.S. consumers may count themselves lucky, once again having dodged the government healthcare guillotine.

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.

Meanwhile I don’t think anyone’s asked Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) if he reported his sweetheart mortgage interest savings as a gift on his taxes. Did former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) report as income the $90,000 allegedly stored in cash in his freezer?

Such incidents bring to mind the promise Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made more than 2 years ago when her party’s fondest wish came true. Resuming control of the U.S. Congress the Democratic Party has held for more years than any party in history, Pelosi said, “Democrats pledge to make this the most honest, ethical, and open Congress in history.” Since that moment Pelosi’s home state is the most severely cash-strapped in the nation, unable to pay “tax refunds” to Californians even though the very term ‘tax refund’ is a misnomer. The money California owes her taxpayers is actually money that was over-withheld. There is no such thing as a tax refund unless you don’t pay taxes at all. Then you really do get a tax refund, bringing us full circle to the notion there is no logic in America’s antiquated tax system.

We really should all be heading to Washington with tea bags in hand, because it’s way past time for a party.

Nothing impedes the U.S. economy on the level taxes claim. Talk to any small business person about employee taxes, employer taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, utility taxes and the innumerable other aggressive tactics governments use to extort money from those who work.

Millions, perhaps billions of dollars go into a big black hole via contraband. At the moment there’s a thriving black market for cigarettes in New York State and economists point to the ridiculous taxes on cigarettes as the cause. At the moment, billions go into the ether via mortgage fraud, Medicaid fraud and other means whereby some crook has decided to relieve a few million taxpayer gumballs of their money.

Why don’t we have someone in government smart enough to track all the under-the-table income?

Now we have a Treasury Secretary who dodged his taxes, a congressman who ignored his taxes but still finds time to write regulations for us and a potential Health and Human Services Secretary who, like everyone else, is sorry. To say I am astounded we would even consider Daschle for this post is an understatement. If he were a Republican, he’d already be trying to scrub the tar and feathers off his hide.

Sidenote to Vice-President Joe Biden: these mainstream Democratic Party insiders are simply not patriotic. Imagine these politicos shirking their tax duties. The horror.

One straw can break a camel’s back. President Barack Obama’s latest nominee just broke this taxpayer’s back, figuratively speaking.

Meanwhile, why doesn’t someone ask Pelosi why she made a promise her party obviously can’t keep?