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: Althouse

What the sidewalk is to you, a limousine and chauffeur is to Tom Daschle.

You need to understand that if you want to know why it never occurred to him that he needed to report it as taxable income:

As a legal tax matter, this isn't even a close call. Mr. Daschle says he used the car service about 80% for personal use, and 20% for business. But his spokeswoman says it only dawned on the Senator last June that this might be taxable income. Mr. Daschle's excuse? According to a Journal report Friday, "he told committee staff he had grown used to having a car and driver as majority leader and did not think to report the perk on his taxes, according to staff members."

So... I infer that the Senators ? or Senate leaders ? have their cars and drivers that are excluded from taxable income even when used for personal things. I'm not outraged by that, actually ? because they are underpaid ? but it is delusional to continue to see yourself as above the law after you've been ousted from the government. Once you take your government reputation and sell it in the private market for big bucks, you must bend to the normal law that binds the rest of us peons.

ADDED: In 1998, Tom said: "Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter." I take it that means Tom would like to be thrown in prison for quite a few years. It's especially appropriate for someone who is responsible for making the laws what they are.

Full post as published by Althouse on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).