Tax Cheats R Us

President Obama's cabinet is shaping up to be populated with quite a few tax evaders. First, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner didn't pay Social Security and Medicare taxes from his employemnt with theIMF.

Now we learn that former Senate Majority Tom Daschle, Obama's nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, recently paid $140,000 in income taxes and interest to correct previous tax returns: he had unreported imputed income on an employer-provided car and driver, unreported consulting income, and improper charitable deductions.

Contrast the pass the Senate gave to Geithner with what happened to Linda Chavez, President Bush's nominee to be Labor Secretary in 2001. Chavez withdrew her nomination after withering criticism from the left because she gave money to a woman who was an illegal alien after the woman suffered domestic abuse. She did nothing illegal.

Likewise, Zoe Baird, Bill Clinton's nominee for attorney general in 1993, withdrew her nomination after it was learned she hired an illegal alien as a nanny and chauffeur and failed to pay Social Security/Medicare taxes. She paid $2,900 in fines.

One tax cheat in the cabinet is enough (actually, more than enough). Daschle's nomination should be derailed.

Surely, the Democrats can find qualified cabinet members who have no run-ins with the law. Hopefully, that isn't too difficult a challenge, even in light of the Blagojevich impeachment.