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Ah, Politics

By Anonymous

Every time you forget how cartoonishly unserious the world of politics is, something like this comes along to remind you:

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is raising questions about a housekeeper who worked briefly for Treasury Secretary-nominee Timothy Geithner without proper immigration papers, and multiple years when Mr. Geithner didn't pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for himself.
...
According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Geithner employed a housekeeper whose immigration papers expired during her tenure with Mr. Geithner, currently president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The woman went on to get a green card to work legally in the country and federal immigration authorities didn't press charges against her, these people said.

The second issue involved taxes due while Mr. Geithner worked for the International Monetary Fund between 2001 and 2004. As an employee, Mr. Geithner was technically considered self-employed and was required to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for himself as both an employer and an employee.

He apparently failed to do so, resulting in Internal Revenue Service audits his last two years at the IMF. As soon as the IRS brought the issue to his attention, he paid the taxes with interest, these people said.

Dear Chuck Grassley: We're in the midst of an epic financial crisis, and you want to talk about the nominee for Treasury Secretary's old housekeeper, and a couple mistakes he made?and immediately corrected?on his tax forms? You're a fucking United States Senator for god's sakes. Act like it.

Full post as published by Economics of Contempt on January 13, 2009 (boomark / email).