Susan, your dad is like most good Americans who struggled to pay taxes. People who would rather go without, than scam the system. Daschle and Killefer had the good sense to withdraw (probably were afraid if they dug deep enough, much more stuff would be discovered) Geitner is another story, he should resign, I doubt the American people can take this administration seriously when the president is surrounded by cheats and scam artists. Birds of a feather, and all that.

Susan, enjoyed your take. I'm generally on the other side from you politically but when your right, your right. One issue though. People at the highest income brackets pay HUGE dollars in taxes. Sure, you have the shelters and moral and ethically challenged people dodging what they can when they can, but bye and bye the top of the pyramid pays. And pays and pays... Do you belive that Tim Geithner has the MORAL AUTHORITY to lead Treasury with ANY credibility? People value your opinion, please speak out. Geithner should RESIGN, NOW!

Ma'am;... One thing is clear to me...If these people see the system as an opportunity to rob us they will not let it fail; at least willingly... It is the ideologues playing chicken, ready to wait, or trade one man's desparation for another's political gain who are really dangerous for the system...I am with them... I am not an ideologue...Just the opposite..I was never an ideologue for outlaw capitalism, and never a ideologue of idealist communism... I just want the thing, the government and economy to work...Government should be everyones road to justice and liberty...It ought to unite us and give us tranquility... Too many see government as a means to feed division they can profit by...If that is all it is, a way of giving the people enough of their own rights and property to take them for the rest; then we don't need it... Mr. Obama has already shown he is corrupt...He has to be corrupt to accept law, which is corrupt...Let him begin now to weed corruption out of his administration, and he will be marked... No one can do it...The system is beyond reform...Even the purest of hearts have their price, and it will be paid... Ma'am... I will not deny that I think democracy is the cure...  We do not have democracy...We began this country with little democracy, and we have lost ground since... Property rights have grown stronger until people now resent paying taxes on property at all... Do they believe labor can carry this land alone???If so; how about some rights for labor because you cannot both drive labor down, and expect wages to pay taxes... And the abuse of labor would not be possible if we had democracy... I do not believe we will get our rights from this government... I do not believe this government can reform itself...I believe only revolution will rejuvinate this country and result in the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of  happiness...Without the reformation of this society we can only expect more of corruption and theft until we can bear no more... And we can bear a lot; so until the misery becomes general we cannot expect better...Thanks...Sweeney

Re: Jamesb;...I got one of those people who pays huge tax: perhaps a hundred and fifty thousand...The thing is, that while a nickle of dime might hurt another at a lower bracket; he would not really be hurt a bit paying half of his income in taxes...He might not like it... But he recognizes that it is those who benefit most, and who can afford the most who should pay the most...Any other method of income tax taxes most those who are living hand to mouth... When this county accepted the income tax, only about ten percent of thepeople were subject to it...Once they had the law they loaded the price of government more and more on those who benfitted least from government...The government does not earn the money... They protect the rich...The property taxes paid by the rich and all their taxes do not pay for the defense of that wealth...It is the poor who pay with their lives for the defense of wealth, and they pay with their poor wages to do so...There is no excuse for it...Think of the prisons, the schools, the pollution, our failed conquests for capital, and say for which ones the rich should not bear.... I go to the store, and once a year a vacation...Who do the roads serve???We pay for the infrastructure that the rich refuse to pay for... It is built for them, and loaded on us...They do not want to face the fact that the one flawless product of  capitalism is losers...People who cannot be employed, people in prisons, old without hope or insurance, young people without expectation or education...Who should pay for it??? Who should pay for the wastage of this society but the rich???There is no reason this place cannot support us all...There is no reason those who most benefit from our association should not pay the most....Thanks....Sweeney

I am a lawyer and I do some tax work. Do you have any idea how hard you have to work at it to have a tax lien of $1,000 put on your house? For one thing, the IRS usually does not bother much with small-scale nonpayments. For another, there is an entire series of steps, including letters of deliquency, notice of delinquency, notice of intent to levy, etc., all of which take place before the IRS resorts to a tax lien. To let a $1,000 bill go into default to the extent a tax lien is imposed is extraordinary even in the case of a delinquent who has trouble raising the money to pay. But for a person of her standing not even to bother paying off such a small amount? This is not just failure to pay a tax. It is contempt of tax.

I read your column in my local paper this morning and could not agree with your view on the arrogance and entitlement of these individuals. If we could immediately engage in an audit of all elected and appointed officials in this country as well as any and all individuals who received a "bonus" as a result of the previous stimulus plan for all unpaid federal, state, local and payroll taxes, just imagine the funds we would collect. It would probably outnumber the dollars being considered right now in the stimulus package. And who would pay for this audit? What if we offer the thousands of small accounting firms throughout the country $.50 for every dollar they discover unpaid? Finally, I would like to see this list published (available online, of course). While highly unlikely to ever happen, of course, just think of how wonderful it would be if we actually did it!

Susan, Now you know why we "little" taxpayers are getting so upset. We work and play by the rules. It seems that if you have been a politician or have influence in Washington, you can get by with anything. Could you answer the question "Why do they think they can dictate to us that we need to pay more taxes so that Congress can re-distribute it and then they have democratic operatives that get by without paying and then get appointed to a high paying job"?

Susan, I agree with your article completly. As a conservative, I don't always agree with you, but enjoy hearing yoru point of view. My biggest gripe of all the political nominees, is Sec Geithner. He is proclaimed to be a fiscal wizard, but did not pay the taxes he was required. And to make matters worst, now he is the executioner to ensure the rest of us not do what he did. Ugh!

Susan: even though I am on the other side of the aisle, I admire and respect your candor and point of view. Thank you for taking a stand.

It is disgraceful these two Democrats and, particularly, Tom Daschle who held a high-profile in the campaign during the past two years could letdown President Obama in this way. However, I want to note here that with all the pompous righteousness of the Republican Party it would be interesting for the American taxpayers to know how many of them hold their wealth in offshort accounts so as to avoid paying various United States taxes.
My university son, who is studying abroad this semester via the Semester at Sea program, wrote the following in an e-mail ~ "I believe everything will work out for Barack as he is masterful, strong-willed, and realizes the many evils involved with politics. I appreciate how he took blame for the Daschle crisis though it really wasn't his fault. He genuinely feels a responsibility for this country and its wellbeing unlike the last president who holds a great responsibility for the creation of this crisis."
The Republican Party and other politicians who are not living with authentic economic and social morals and ethics on various levels of this society are in for a wild bull ride as these university students begin to graduate in the next two to seven years. The partisans (Boehners, Graham, McConnell, McCain, and their disturbing media talking heads, et al.) who have been arrogantly airing their faces during the past 14 days in an attempt to weaken President Obama's ("Barack" as the college student's call him) position and envied popularity for the eyes of America and the World to witness, are in for a serious (peaceful) revolution in the times ahead. These souls who came in after 1980 and beyond are brilliant, willful, loving (universally-mind), FEARLESS, and will confront authority in a way that has never touched this white boys club who speak through clenched teeth, withered hearts, non-compassion, and with non-justifiable arrogant bluster. Their days, weeks, months, and years are numbered (as they well know) and these young Americans (peaceful patriots) are going to be arriving at their doorsteps to hold their feet on the hot coals in the very near future.