Apr

15

Tax Day double standards?

Posted by Dan

April 15, 2009 |

U.S. Treasury Secretary, and tax scofflaw, Timothy Geithner

U.S. Treasury Secretary, and tax scofflaw, Timothy Geithner

Today, of course, is that most hated of days, Tax Day.

Did you file your returns on time? If not, maybe you should send in an application to be our country’s next Treasury Secretary.

I kid. But a whole lot of people are unhappy today. There are several “tea parties” taking place across the country today, all held by citizens protesting the amount of taxes they have to pay.

Some real frustration lies in the fact that our country’s own Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner admitted that he recently forgot to pay $34,000 in payroll and Social Security taxes. Oops.

The Chicago Tribune has a good story about this here. Apparently, a lot of IRS workers are peeved that they can be fired for making simple mistakes on their own tax returns, but bigshots like Geithner get away. It’s a double standard, they say.

Lord knows, it’s hard to argue. I hate dealing with taxes. I work full-time at a publishing company but I also run a busy freelance-writing business from my home. My wife works from home, too, as an independent contractor. That makes our taxes a bit confusing. Add to this the fact that we last year adopted a child, and filling out our tax forms was an adventure this year.

But we did it. And we did it on time, miraculously.

If our government hotshots could just do the same, maybe there wouldn’t be so many tea parties today.


Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

<< Post Navigation >>

« « Who exactly is in charge of moving me from cubicle to cubicle? | The rise of the unpaid furlough » »