Moderate GOP Sen. Collins: I'm Voting Against Geithner

Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, announced on MSNBC that she will vote against the nomination of Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary because of his failure to pay taxes. The vote is scheduled for 6 P.M. Monday.

Watch:

Comments

[escrow7]

10:39 AM on 01/27/2009

Let's open the books on them all and see who has outstanding taxes they have not paid.


http://www.thirdeyechronicles.com

[karela]

03:36 AM on 01/27/2009

I don't agree with Senator Collins on Geithner, but I listened to that entire interview and found her impressive. She seems to carefully inform herself and think out what her conscience tells her to do and why she's doing it. She didn't sound like someone who just blindly follows ideology. I can certainly respect her even if I might not always agree with her. I'm not afraid of Senators who are thoughtful, respectful and filled with integrity even if we don't always agree. I felt like she was worthy of her vote in the Senate. I feel better after having listened to her. She was respectful of the President and I think she will contribute to the discussion. That's how democracy works in America and it has served us well for a long time now.

[WoodyGrant]

10:35 PM on 01/26/2009

Let's eliminate possibility of all people who ever made a mistake on their tax returns, anyone who ever paid their son or daughter to baby sit and never reported it and so forth from public office. We'd probably be left with only the wealthy who use the best tax accountants and the unemployed who don't pay taxes as our public officials! Gee, isn't that rational?

[LeighAnnes]

11:34 PM on 01/26/2009

We'd be left with only people who pay no taxes. Even the very best tax accountants make mistakes...

[Yohomegirl]

08:50 PM on 01/26/2009

Five bucks says her bus was short.

[brighterlight]

08:11 PM on 01/26/2009

Well, she's a snow-white virgin tax payer. What can we say? Too bad the rest of the ReThuglicans aren't as pure.

[hapiday]

07:45 PM on 01/26/2009

I wouldn't worry about the republicans too much. Some of their fake protests will backfire on them. I suspect there will be some scandalous information coming out on some of them within the next 4 years.

[Doofus]

07:42 PM on 01/26/2009

Geithner wins Senate confirmation as Treasury secretary in 60-34 vote

Republicans who crossed the aisle to support Geithner’s nomination included Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Crapo (Idaho), John Ensign (Nev.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich (Ohio).

Democrats who bucked their party to oppose the nomination included Sens. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), Russ Feingold (Wis.) and Tom Harkin (Iowa). Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, also opposed the nomination.

Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) missed the vote.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/geithner-wins-senate-confirmation-as-treasury-secretary-in-60-34-vote-2009-01-26.html

[brighterlight]

08:12 PM on 01/26/2009

I think we can depend on Orin Hatch to do the right thing going forward. I understand Ted Kennedy almost died in his arms on Inauguration Day Lunch. Hope it shook him up.

[lisa12345]

02:25 AM on 01/27/2009

It appears that our most liberal members voted against him.

[Doofus]

09:59 AM on 01/27/2009

But 'Independent Demo' Joe Lieberman is still on his best behavior, apparently!

[Grannysue]

06:57 PM on 01/26/2009

And we should care what you think because?

[apoyo]

06:11 PM on 01/26/2009

Grandstanding and acting holier than thou. I'm sure she is perfect.

[Gmoney1]

06:24 PM on 01/26/2009

Yea, I'm sure she never stood any ground against her repubs while they were doing what they did to us for 8 years - what about our money that we lost because of the repubs - now she wants to be holier than thou over some taxes - give me a break - I say, get out of the way repubs - you had your chance and you failed terribly -

[Gmoney1]

06:30 PM on 01/26/2009

I say can we get some new progressive thinking people in the house and senate - old ideas and mentality - go home and retire please -

[munki]

06:03 PM on 01/26/2009

For those... oppose....

PLEASE COME UP WITH A NEW AND SOUND ONE...
not just simply oppose...

[kaukerc]

05:58 PM on 01/26/2009

I am absolutely sick of the media labeling this woman a moderate!!! She's nothing more than Kay Bailey Hutchinson with bad hair. Exactly what qualifies her as being a moderate? Just the fact that she's from Maine? She promotes that view of herself just so she can get re-elected back in her home state. One of these days the people are going to realize that she's simply Arlin Specter with hair.

[ThatOne4Me]

06:46 PM on 01/26/2009

i wonder if it's a wig...that hair of hers. just wondering.

[kaukerc]

06:59 PM on 01/26/2009

Have you ever seen her with Arlin at the same time?? Inquiring minds want to know.

[dms8v]

05:37 PM on 01/26/2009

I am a CPA and at first, I questioned how someone could make a mistake like this, especially using Turbo Tax but the Washington Post had an interesting article on this. It wasn't that he didn't pay any taxes. He paid his income taxes. Apparently, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are the only organizations that give its employees W-2s instead of 1099. If you get a 1099 (a form that reports other income), the turbo tax system automatically knows to calculate the FICA (social security and disability for both you and the employer). Because he received a W-2, it assumes that it was income received from an employee which already withheld the taxes. Geithner did not pay the self-employment portion of the FICA the two years for which he prepared his own taxes but a CPA made the same mistake when he had a professional prepare the taxes the next two years. This issue has been such a problem in the past there have been waivers by the IRS for people in similar situations that made this error. He did pay the amount plus interest and if anything else, this definitely highlights the need for employees of these International organizations to ensure they pay their FICA and identified a weakness in the Turbo Tax software.

I don"t think this should disqualify him. I"m sure it has been a huge embarrassment to him but it does appear to be a true mistake and not intentional.

[drock973]

06:12 PM on 01/26/2009

OK, you figured it out so how come the only person in the world smart enough to run the Treasury Dept. couldn't figure this out several years in a row.

[karela]

03:44 AM on 01/27/2009

I believe the commenter said that he/she figured it out because of reading an New York Times article that explained how it happened. Both Turbo Tax and the CPA who did the second two years of Geithner's taxes missed it too. It sounds like an honest mistake to me. I would have been more concerned if he was trying to escape paying income tax, but he clearly was not. He paid all of his income tax. This was a social security employer/employee error.

[lj9283]

06:20 PM on 01/26/2009

The Republicans are loving this.

[Libarchist]

05:34 PM on 01/26/2009

Excellent news.

[rosiebond007]

05:33 PM on 01/26/2009

The Republicans have "encouraged" all kinds of outrageous tax dodging - this was small potatoes by comparison - really small.

It's funny when they get all prudish about taxes and sex - as if they are lilly white.

I would love to ask those stuffy old geezers some "hot" questions, but then I doubt if they could actually remember it was sooooooo long ago.

[Jo Manning]

05:27 PM on 01/26/2009

Senators Collins and Snowe of Maine are decent women. Let us hope they will someday see the great light shining above and leave their morally decrepit party.

I think President Obama needs to have his team in place to put this country back on its feet, but I'm not crazy about Geithner not paying his taxes, either. Who the heck does he think he is, better than the rest of us?