11Alive is on the warpath, trying to find out which Legislators haven’t paid their taxes. I was speaking with a couple of people on Saturday about this. One person’s view was that these folks should be booted out of office immediately, no questions asked. The other person held a different view. This person was a former small business man who has had dealings with our wonderful tax collection agencies. This person thought we should cut these guys some slack, unless they were flagrantly violating the law. As all small business people know, dealing with our tax agencies is not exactly a picnic. Innocent until proven guilty? Forget about it.
So what should we do with Legislators who fail to pay their taxes? In my mind it’s very simple: they should be treated like everyone else. They should get their stuff together and make arrangements to file and pay as soon as possible – just like any of us would be expected to do. As for the voters, these Legislators will have to face them and answer some tough questions. I trust the voters to make the determination as to whether their Legislator deserves a break or should be booted out. However, it should be done with an examination of all the facts, not selected facts skewed one way or the other. As Proverbs 18:13 tells us:
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
Should Legislators pay their taxes? Of course. But I will withhold my judgment of these individuals until we know more facts.
BTW, griftdrift has an interesting post along these lines.
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Pretty much agree Buzz, with one exception, and that goes to “filing.” I know there may be tons of honest disagreements over an amount owed (if any), but the deadlines on filing apply to whether you owe or not. You can easily get an extension to file, but you must file. If memory serves, it is not a crime to owe taxes, but it is a crime not to file a return.
I agree, however, we just don’t know who has or hasn’t filed their taxes. We know Sen. Brown hasn’t because he admitted it. Other than that we don’t know.
None of it is criminal (unless there is fraud). Not even filing. Although strangely the penalties for not filing are harsher. The government would rather you not pay than screw up their paperwork.
Thanks for the link Buzz.
I agree with Sen. Johnson’s rule from last week that it should be an ethics violation if you haven’t paid your taxes.
Shocking
“I agree, however, we just don’t know who has or hasn’t filed their taxes. ”
What does that have to do with anything? I guess if the list is overwhelmingly more Democratic than Republican then it’d be a good thing to come down on them and if it’s mostly Republicans you know personally or like then it’s an issue that should be swept aside?
It seems you’re more concerned about who might be on the list than the actual problem at hand.
RuralDem,
If I were concerned about making this a partisan issue I would have jumped all over Sen. Brown and the three other Dems. who are having their wages garnished. I didn’t do that did I?
Can’t you set aside your partisan colored glasses for just a minute and look at the issue involved?
I see the issue involved, yet I also see someone who’d rather wait until names are released before saying anything that might offend someone.
You can’t have it both ways RuralDem. You accused me of acting in a partisan fashion then say I’m scared of offending someone (presumably Republicans). Which is it?
BTW, what would you do with these folks? I’ve already said what I think. All you’ve done is attack. As Bill Clinton said, “an attack never fed a hungry child.”
I think you’re scared of saying anything too inflammatory until you find out the whole list. Yes, you are partisan, and yes, I think you are scared of offending someone on the Republican side, hence the reason why you’re not really saying much on the issue, apparently, because, in your words “we just don’t know who has or hasn’t filed their taxes.”
Who has or has not should not be a factor. “Why or why not” not “who has or has not” should be a factor.
That’s not acting both ways.
I think it should be an ethics violation.
OK, finally we get to some issues. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for it to be an ethics violation. The Ethics Commission will allow both sides to present evidence and make a ruling.
I do think the Legislator’s circumstances should be considered. Sen. Brown was apparently sick for some time and rightly or wrongly he says that’s the reason and that he applied for extensions. If the DoR has given him extensions then what’s the problem?
All I’ve been saying is let’s examine each Legislator’s situation before we throw them all out.
Well, RuralDem, perhaps you can sit down with Sen. Johnson and craft a bill that actually makes sense. We can worry about fair and just later.
Well, griftdrift, even if it did make sense you’d find some reason to have a problem with it
If it comes from the desk of Sen. Johnson, I’d doubt that’d be difficult.
“If it comes from the desk of Sen. Johnson, I’d doubt that’d be difficult.”
QFT.
I really enjoyed Griftdrift’s blog about the tax payer stories. It’s true that sometimes a businessman just needs someone to work with him during the hard times. A senator or representative could possibly be in the same circumstances talked about in Grift’s stories.
However, no one would put up with a Governor that didn’t pay his taxes for any reason. Sens. & Reps. should be held to a high standard as well.
A law could be made that requires all of the above in state office to legally file a tax return. If payment is complicated for some good reason, then at least the law has been complied with about filing a return.
If a complaint comes up & they have not filed-then it should be grounds for stiff fines and sanctions.
It seems to me that none of the above ought to be able to get off by saying that it just simply slipped their mind to file a tax return.
That’s right clone, keep up the Eric Johnson BS chatter. As if there’s not a law requiring tax returns to be filed.
Why don’t you bother to read the tax laws instead of just repeating talking point rhetoric?
Yes, everybody, including senators and representatives should pay their taxes. But, Eric Johnson’s rhetoric is BS. I’ll spell out BS if you don’t know what I’m saying.
All right Bowersville since I know who you are now-don’t make me come over there & get in a big argument with you. (that’s why I ain’t coming over to argue!).
I don’t care much about what Johnson is proposing or even what he has said. I know that it is against the law not to file. So, if a state elected offical knows that too-then what’s so bad about making it an automatic ethical violation to not file? Maybe Johnson’s got it right for the wrong reasons.
Bucky, you’re welcome at my home any time, but leave your arguing at home.
Stand by friend, with the out of control spending, we’re all going to be behind on our taxes. My grand son now owes taxes and he’s only 5.
But that doesn’t matter, the most important thing is he can’t buy beer on Sunday.
At least we’ll file & not worry about a drunk running us over on Sunday.
“At least we’ll file & not worry about a drunk running us over on Sunday.”
A cowboy, who is visiting Wyoming from Texas , walks into a bar and orders three mugs of Coors. He sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.
The bartender approaches and tells the cowboy, ‘You know, a mug goes flat after I draw it. It would taste bet ter if you bought one at a time.’
The cowboy replies, ‘Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in Arizona and the other is in Colorado . When we all left our home in Texas , we promised that we’d drink this way to remember the days when we drank together. So I’m drinking one beer for each of my brothers and one for myself.’
The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.
The cowboy becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way. He orders three mugs and drinks them in turn.
One day, he comes in and only orders two mugs. All the regulars take notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, ‘I don’t want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your loss.’
The cowboy looks quite puzzled for a moment, then a light dawns in his eyes and he laughs.
‘Oh, no, everybody’s just fine,’ he explains, ‘It’s just that my wife and I joined the Baptist Church and I had to quit drinking.’
‘Hasn’t affected my brothers though.’
Gathormathis (hope that has nothing to do with UFL),
There’s plenty of them kind of cowboys running around in Baptist churches.
What you talking about Bucky? them baptist cowboys up at the window ordering liquor cause they don’t man up to the bar?
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