When asked to join the Obama administration, Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer were both undone by their failure to pay taxes. Tim Geithner, who did get confirmed, didn’t properly pay his taxes either.

All this tax talk prompted Ricci Levy at The Bilerico Project to wonder what’s so wrong about a little bit of unpaid taxes:

And then I ask myself, so what if someone got away with not paying their taxes? Does it mean they’re not fit to run an agency in our government’s administration? Just because they cheat on one thing – just because they consider themselves above the law (and, let’s face it, more clever than I), does that mean they can’t uphold the law and make good, honorable decisions for America?

Ummm….you bet it means all of that and more. As my grandmother used to say ‘“ ‘œLiars lie and cheaters cheat, and they can no more change that about themselves than a zebra can change its stripes.’

Is it okay if they pay their taxes now, when they (or their spouse/partner) are about to take office for the Obama administration? Does that make it okay? Were they thinking that if they didn’t say anything, we wouldn’t? Or was it really just so much a part of the way they live their entire lives that they actually forgot they cheat on their income taxes?

Awhile back Rich gave examples of gays and lesbians he knew were cheating and how they justified it. Do you think most people fudged the numbers at some point with their tax filings? Is it morally wrong? And if so, another writer asks why is it wrong:

Is it wrong because you have a duty to support the state? Is it wrong because others are paying so why should you be any different? Is it wrong because the elected government ‘œrepresents’ us and thus not supporting it is like an anti-social act? Is it because you are holding for yourself something that doesn’t belong to you, so not paying taxes is like stealing from the state? The answer to the question obviously depends on your view over what the state and the government (that spends the tax money) are. I personally think that not paying taxes is not a bad thing at all; it’s almost like a heroic behavior.

Heroic behavior? Um, that’s a new one. What do you think? Please feel free to comment below.

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