by Bill O'Connell on January 14, 2009
It couldn’t be more clear that the Obama administration should immediately begin the conversion from our convoluted tax code, to a flat tax that could be filed on a post card. How can I make such a claim?
Well, Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee that writes the tax laws, seems to have forgotten to pay his income taxes on a villa that he owns in the Dominican Republic. More recently we learn that Timothy Geithner, Obama’s nominee to be Treasury Secretary, didn’t pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for several years. The Treasury Department includes the Internal Revenue Service which enforces the tax laws that Mr. Rangel’s Committee writes and collects the money.
So if the tax laws are so complicated that the individual in charge of writing the tax laws cannot understand them enough to follow them, and they are so complicated that the individual in charge of enforcing those tax laws, doesn’t understand what he is charged with enforcing, don’t you think it’s time we simplified the tax laws? If these highly educated, very experienced, extremely intelligent people cannot comply with the tax code, what hope does the average Joe have? Perhaps that is why it is estimated we spend $200 billion per year in tax compliance. Couldn’t that money be more productively be employed elsewhere in the economy?
What do you think?
by Bill O'Connell on November 22, 2008
It’s three weeks since the election. Where do things stand now?
- Appointments – Now it gets interesting. Some of the less exciting picks, although not without the potential for mischief are Tom Daschle at Health and Human Services, Janet Napolitano at Homeland Security, and Bill Richardson at Commerce. The more interesting choices are:
- Eric Holder – Attorney General. It is reported that Barack Obama asked around about possible problems with this nomination and was satisfied that there would be little. However, since the announcement the concerns are getting aired. First, there is his participation in the Marc Rich pardon. Holder claims that he “never devoted a great deal of time to this matter.” However, an Op-Ed piece in the NY Times by George Lardner, Jr. paints a very different picture. Mr. Lardner helped cover the story for the Washington Post at the time. Second, Holder was involved in the Elian Gonzalez case where the child was taken at gunpoint in violation of a court order. Holder claimed the child wasn’t taken at gunpoint, however there is a Pulitzer Prize Winning photograph showing just that. That’s two for two on the mendacity score. Obama might want to re-think this one before it turns toxic.
- Hillary Clinton – Secretary of State. This could be another sign of Obama’s political genius that is only matched by Bill Clinton himself. He brings his arch rival into his administration thus blunting her ability to be a critic. He broker’s a deal where Bill Clinton has to come clean on all his wheelings and dealings, disclose to Obama’s team all the donors, foreign and domestic, to the Clinton Library, and promise to keep the new administration advised of his comings and goings. As Lyndon Johnson famously said of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, “I’d rather have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.” This will also be the acid test of his ongoing political skill. He will have two tigers by the tail. If Hillary goes off message, or Bill slips his leash, Obama has to decide what to do. He could fire Hillary, which might be enough of an embarrassment that the threat of doing so would keep her in line. On the other hand, he would have to face all of those 18 million Hillary supporters in the Democratic Party, if he didn’t have a very good reason to do so, that they also felt was a very good reason. Bill is even a tougher call. The only counterweight there is that if he goes off and does something questionable with a foreign government, it could be a greater embarrassment to the Secretary of State, his wife. Where’s Joe Biden? Biden was picked for his foreign policy expertise. By bringing Hillary on board they can now keep Hiden’ Biden for the next four years.
- Timothy Geithner – Secretary of the Treasury – this might be one of his better picks. Upon news of this getting out the market jumped up nearly 500 points. That wasn’t enough to save it from another down week, but maybe it will help find a bottom.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average – Down 445 points. The Dow which is considered a leading indicator dropped another 5% this week. It went below 8000 until the announcement of Geithner as Treasury pick. So in the three weeks since the election the Dow has dropped almost 1,600 points.
- School for the Obama Children – The Obama’s have decided where to send their children to school. Naturally they would choose public school, right? Since they are always telling us it is bad to have school choice. It hurts the public school system by taking money away and we need to do more for public schools right? Wasn’t that the whole reason behind the Department of Education? Nope. It will be private school for the Obama children at $28,400 per year. The Department of Education was created during the Carter Administration. But Amy Carter, the daughter of President Jimmy Carter, also attended public schools, the first child of a president to do so since Theordore Roosevelt’s son Quentin in 1904. Parents in the District of Columbia have been begging for school vouchers to be able to send their children to any school public or private, but the Democrats are adamantly opposed them (can you say teacher’s union?). Apparently, the Democrats believe the public schools are just fine, as long as their children don’t go anywhere near them.
Stay tuned…
