Big Dogs Weblog

Bailout Companies Pull A Geithner

by Big Dog on Mar 20, 2009 at 14:20 Political

At least thirteen firms receiving bailout money from the US taxpayer have not paid their taxes following the stellar example set by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

At least 13 firms receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe a total of more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a key lawmaker said Thursday.

Rep. John Lewis, chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing the federal bailout, said two firms owe more than $100 million apiece.

“This is shameful. It is a disgrace,” said Lewis, D-Ga. “We are going to get to the bottom of what is going on here.”

The House Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight discovered the delinquent taxes in a review of tax records from 23 of the firms receiving the most money, Lewis said as he opened a hearing on the issue.

“If we looked at all 470 recipients, how much would they owe?” Lewis asked. AP

These companies were required to sign paperwork indicating they had no unpaid taxes but their tax records were never requested by the government. Now we are learning that they owe hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

I have no sympathy for those who fail to pay their taxes and neither does the government, unless of course the entity not paying them is a Democrat or “the smartest person in the room.”

I am perturbed however, that the Congress gins up anger over this issue when the target is a company in the US. I certainly believe the anger is warranted but where was all the anger when Tim Geithner was being confirmed. This guy deliberately did not pay his taxes and only ponied up the money (no interest or penalties) when he was selected to serve in the Obama administration.

Where is the indignation from the ethics committee investigating Charlie Rangel’s failure to pay taxes? Where was the indignation over Daschle not paying his taxes?

It seems to me that the government is selective in its anger over those who fail to pay taxes. There should be one standard for everyone. If these companies have not paid their taxes then they need to be held accountable and the taxes should be collected.

The same is also true for any entity that did not pay taxes. All these Democrats are running around pointing fingers but they don’t seem to be too interested in looking in a mirror.

How ironic is it that the government agency that Geithner is in charge of will be going after these unpaid taxes?

The bad thing is these companies will probably pay their taxes with the bailout money. They will use our taxes to pay theirs.

This is what happens when the government gets involved in private business.

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Tags: bailout, geithner, Obama, taxes