as it relates to daschle, this is an easy item to miss. he was found to not fully report non-monetary income/benefits, in this case it was the use of a car/driver provided by a benefactor.
as one writer put it, we're always focused on where we can get credits/deductions for the tax return, we're not focused on looking for items that were given to us that also have value. you gotta report the items of value as income just like they were giving you money.
the problem with daschle is that he was in the group who wrote these tax codes and he should be aware of every possible angle. he didn't provide to his accountant any info on these perks, so the acct didn't list them as income, he owes the fed the tax plus penalties and interest, and daschle now has to withdraw his nomination.
is this an act that should disqualify a nominee? there's a huge difference between a person going to great lengths to hide real income, to cheat, and someone who just doesn't catch something like a car service given to them.
but he's guilty, he's paying the price, and now going forward no one will get caught not paying income tax for non-monetary items if they want to be a cabinet member.
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