Daschle on Taxes
Via Glenn Reynolds, I see that John Pitney has unearthed this gem of a quote:
“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter. ” – Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507.
One could argue that Daschle is in compliance with the letter of our tax laws now that he’s made restitution. It’s hard to argue, though, that failing to declare tens of thousands in actual earnings — as opposed to the murkier gift of free limo service — isn’t cheating on one’s taxes.
No native criminal class, except Congress.
About par for the course for this guy – he spends all week in Wash while a senator bad mouthing the president and then runs for reelection with ads depicting him with Bush. I can definately say that I am not surprised by any of this – he is coming clean now only b/c he has to – not b/c he just discovered his crimes.
This guy is the liberalist of liberals, so this is no surprise.
Liberals are inherently cheaters–in fact, that is the meaning of liberalism.
If the laws were properly enforced, poor ole Tommy-Boy would be some thug’s bitch in Federal prison.
I have committed numerous errors on my tax returns over the years. When I used to trade stocks, one time my 34-page filing of trades was flagged and I didn’t hear from them for 3 mos. They eventually recalculated it and said I owed them about $54 bucks. I paid it. Recently, they sent me a letter saying I probably qualified for the EITC and just didn’t realize it. I signed a form saying I did, and they sent me a $100 check.
In general I have not found the IRS to be the hideous monster alleged, and I believe that Daschle probably didn’t get any special treatment. If accidentally violating a tax law automatically put you in jail I’d be writing this from the prison in Starke.
Do I think the tax code should be simpler? Sure. But I think a lot of the complexity is to give rich people loopholes. Am I crying that Stanley O’Neil ruined Merril Lynch, got paid $150 million to do so, and now might have to pay 35% taxes on that money? No, I’m not.