More tax troubles: Killefer withdraws
The inability to pay taxes has claimed its second casualty of the Obama administration (and actually is plaguing its third). The woman President Obama appointed to head the new chief performance officer of the federal government withdrew her nomination after it was reported that she failed to pay employer taxes on her household help.
From the Associated Press:
Nancy Killefer, who failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes on household help, has withdrawn her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer for the federal government, the White House said Tuesday.
Killefer was the second major Obama administration nominee to withdraw and the third to have tax problems complicate their nomination after President Barack Obama announced their selection.
… When her selection was announced by Obama on Jan. 7, The Associated Press disclosed that in 2005 the District of Columbia government had filed a $946.69 tax lien on her home for failure to pay unemployment compensation tax on household help.
The president’s pick to head the Health and Human Services Department, Tom Daschle, also pulled out today because he didn’t pay his taxes.
The White House didn’t say much, except for this:
But White House press secretary Robert Gibbs later insisted Killefer and Daschle decided on their own to withdraw. “I think they both recognized that you can’t set an example of responsibility but accept a different standard in who serves,” Gibbs told a White House briefing.
It’s not a good day for hope and change.
Sources:
The Associated Press, Feb. 3, 2009
Official: Performance czar withdraws candidacy
CNN, Feb. 3, 2009
Tax issues prompt Obama nominee to withdraw
ABC News, Feb. 3, 2009
Another Tax Problem for Obama Nominee
The Associated Press, Feb. 3, 2009
