What if I didn't pay taxes?

Many politicians wonder why the general public refuses to trust them. The simple answer is that they give us an endless supply to reasons to distrust them. There's a double standard that exists between politicians and the rest of America. Obama's cabinet nominees' failures to pay taxes are the latest proof of this double standard.

By defending individuals like Tim Geithner, Obama and other defenders appear to be making the argument that it's okay to forget to pay your taxes. However, after taking income taxation last semester, I know that that isn't the case. In fact, the IRS likes nothing more than going after people for failing to make payments. The IRS also has a tendency to go after people who may have paid their taxes in full but the IRS feels like it would like a little more money at the moment, so they create some new interpretation of the existing rules to screw the taxpayer.

So what message does Obama really want to send? It seems that he wants to reinforce the double standard we've seen countless times, especially given that the Obama folks didn't admit to Geithner's failure to pay taxes, but instead kept it secret until the WSJ discovered it and made it known. With the IRS's tendency to come down hard on taxpayers, the whole flap brings up serious questions as to how he's going to be able to credibly enforce the IRS rules.

The linked Politico article sums it up well: "we will see how easy he is on other people when they say they made 'honest mistakes.'"

What if I didn't pay taxes? - Politico.com