Geithner and Summer Camp: Much More to Explain

You may have missed it in the press coverage of the inauguration, or, on second thought, maybe because there has been virtually no press coverage of it, but Obama's Treasury nominee has had serious tax trouble that goes way beyond Kimba Wood, Zoe Baird, Linda Chavez, or even Joe the Plumber tax problems.

The latest teeth-gnashing, Leona-Helmsley-taxes-are-for-the-little-people revolves around summer camps.

That's right, Geithner claimed his kids overnight camp as a day care credit. This is a simple issue that many Americans can understand as they have been told by their tax accountants or their tax software that no, overnight camp is not a deduction, the IRS is clear about that.

But Geithner's claim is so audacious even the Washington Post is shocked, and that just might spell the end of this example of Obama's botched nonexistent vetting process. (Bill Richardson anyone?)

PostPartisan

It's the sleep-away camp that goes beyond the definition of simple mistake.

...

It may be morally harder to explain Geithner's attempt to claim money spent on his children's sleep-away camps as a child-care expense. The amount involved is a pittance compared with the larger tab for the back Social Security taxes.
It's the audacity that's the problem.

Millions of families do without decent child-care for their children while they're at work. Millions send their kids to untrained and unlicensed daycare providers. Some put older siblings -- kids who are ten or twelve, sometimes younger -- in charge of younger brothers and sisters. The child-care tax credit is a small and hardly adequate way in which a limited portion of expenses can be recouped, but only if they're incurred when parents are working or looking for work.

Sleep-away camp sure doesn't count. It's a luxury for affluent kids, not a necessity the taxpayers subsidize. Like John Edwards's expensive haircut and Sarah Palin's campaign-financed wardrobe, this one reeks of something worse than sloppiness. It's that sense of entitlement we've seen all too often.

BizzyBlog has more including other illegal deductions and coverage of a financially boneheaded withdrawal from a 401k. Sure, millions of Americans do it, but you'd like to think our Treasury Secretary would be financially smarter than that. As Bizzy sums it up:

The non-coverage excuse that the amounts involved are relatively trivial compared to Geithner's self-employment tax problems simply doesn't fly. There's a 15-year record of nonpayment of taxes, including frequently failing to pay them even when advised that they are due; deduction-mongering ranging from overly aggressive to obviously wrong; and a terribly expensive retirement plan-related financial move that is ordinarily a telltale sign of financial distress. To use favored media phraseology, we're seeing a "disturbing pattern that leaves many questions unanswered."

I am still predicting Tim Geithner's nomination will fail. As the vote is delayed, this nominee looks worse and worse all the time. And the media is just starting to notice that they have a little catch up work to do.