Taxes For Thee But Not For Me

"Only the little people pay taxes." - Leona Helmsley

Seriously people, it's not the freaking hard!

1. Every 16 year old with a part time job at McDonald's knows that employers withhold taxes from their pay checks. Every working adult with more than 2 firing synapses in their head knows that the money withheld from their check is sent to the government. If you are going to employee someone it stands to reason that you need to pay taxes to the government!
   
   
2. A large portion of the population has rented a car by the time they reach the ripe old age of 30. So it stands to reason that everyone knows that having a car and someone to drive you around in it has value. When that is provided to you for free that is something of value being given to you. Someone is paying. When you have been a member of the Senate Finance Committee you should damn well know that a gift needs to be recorded on your tax return!
   
   
3. Let's go back to the 16 year old at McDonalds. One of the tax items on his check is some vague thing called FICA. What the hell is that? His/Her parents will probably inform them that it is the Social Security tax. What I think most people eventually learn is that their employer not only withholds that FICA money but also matches the amount out of their own pocket and pays it to the government. Now it gets a little more vague when you are self employed but the truth is that you now owe both halves of the FICA charge. It may be a common mistake but when your employer tells you that you owe it and they are giving you extra money to cover it you have no excuse. And Turbo Tax covers that aspect too. I know. I use it.
   

I remember this BS going back to Clinton Administration confirmation hearings in 1992. Probably farther. Look this doesn't change my support of Obama or his policies and I want him to have the best team he can but this is really unacceptable. Geithner, rightly or wrongly, was given a pass. Daschle and Killefer were steps too far. It's too bad but they had to go.