Video: Obama tax cheat Treasury pick Geithner blames Turbo Tax! – 1/21/09

Posted January 21st, 2009 under Headlines Tags: geithner, imf, obama, secretary, tax cheat, treasury, turbo tax

Tim Geithner, Obama’s pick to head the Treasury Department and oversee the IRS, today blamed Turbo Tax as the reason he accidentally cheated on his taxes.

MSNBC First Read:

Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner, the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, filed his own taxes using Turbo Tax during the period he neglected to pay thousands of dollars in taxes.

Under questioning from Senate Finance Committee Republican member Chuck Grassley, Geithner was very reluctant to disclose which tax filing software he used. He quickly suggested the software wasn’t the problem; he was.

But Grassley pushed back, again asking what software he used. Geithner said, “Turbo Tax.” Grassley then asked if Turbo Tax has brought it to his attention that Geithner needed to pay more taxes. Geithner said, “No.”

Today is the first day Geithner has publicly discussed the taxes issue. Last week, he explained himself before members of the committee in a closed session and followed up with phones calls to some Republicans on the panel.

The outlook for Geithner’s nomination appears on track, with key Republicans last week calling the tax matter “troubling and serious” but not a “disqualifying factor.”