Daschle Withdraws as Criticism Mounts Over Tax Issues, Alston & Bird Fees
Facing increasing criticism over tax problems and consulting fees, Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination for secretary of Health and Human Services.
Daschle said he is withdrawing because the dispute over his failure to pay more than $120,000 in taxes had become a distraction to Obama’s agenda, the Associated Press reports. The tax problem concerned failure to pay taxes on a car and driver provided for him by a company for which he did consulting work.
The New York Times had called for Daschle to resign in an editorial published today. The newspaper pointed to the tax issues and said Daschle, the former Senate majority leader, had “cashed in on his political savvy and influence to earn $5 million in recent years, including more than $2 million from Alston & Bird,” the law firm where he worked as a special adviser. He also made hundreds of thousands of dollars by speaking to interest groups, including those representing health care concerns.
Daschle explained his decision in a statement, the Washington Post reports. “If 30 years of exposure to the challenges inherent in our system has taught me anything, it has taught me that this work will require a leader who can operate with the full faith of Congress and the American people, and without distraction,” Daschle said. “Right now, I am not that leader.”
He is the second official to withdraw over tax problems. Nancy Killefer, appointed to a new position scrutinizing government spending, is also withdrawing over tax concerns. She has been accused of failing to pay unemployment taxes on household help, the Associated Press reports.
Their withdrawals come at a time when the public is in an unforgiving mood. A 2008 survey by the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board found that 89 percent of taxpayers say it is not acceptable to cheat on income taxes, TaxProf Blog reports. The number is the highest in the history of the eight-year survey, according to the blog.
