Should TARP Funds Be Used to Bail Out Treasury Secretary Geithner?

Tim Geithner, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, failed to pay $34,000 in taxes between 2001 to 2004.   The revelation came at the start of his Senate confirmation hearing.   Geithner, "Mr. Bailout", failed to pay taxes while he was working for the International Monetary Fund.   The Treasury Secretary is responsible for managing federal revenues and tax policy. 

Geithner will also administer the $700 Wall Street bailout fund, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe commented:

“We all know how hard it is to understand the tax code.  Even the next Treasury Secretary can’t figure it out.  This is a perfect example of how the flat tax could help us all, even the Treasury Secretary, with a simple, fairer, and flat tax code. 

A lot of folks are defending Mr. Geithner’s failure to pay his taxes because of a ‘confusing’ payroll system.  Hmmm.  The TARP is a very confusing, complex, and detail-oriented system.   

I know Mr. Geithner is busy these days, and it looks like he could use a bailout.  Perhaps it is a good idea to tap the TARP funds to help him pay his tax liability.  It is a small price to pay to help the guy responsible for dishing out  hundreds of billions in bailout dollars to save Wall Street bankers and the Big Three.”