TPMMuckraker

Not Another One! Now Trade Rep Pick Has Tax Issues

Zachary Roth March 2, 2009, 5:14 PM

Here we go again…

Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor picked by President Obama to be US Trade Rep, has tax problems. Senate finance committee staffers told members of the committee that Kirk underpaid on his taxes by almost $10,000 from 2005 to 2007. He has agreed to file adjustments.

According to National Journal’s Congress Daily:

The underpayments deal in part with speaking honoraria he received that he listed as charitable donations to his alma mater, Austin College.

Kirk instead should have reported the honoraria as taxable income and then deducted the donations. The panel also asked Kirk for substantiation of other charitable donations he has made, including a television set, and it has questioned Kirk’s write-offs of business expenses, including those for Dallas Mavericks season tickets.

Finance chair Max Baucus seems to be standing by Kirk. Baucus issued a statement saying Kirk “is the right person for this job and I will work to move his nomination quickly.”

But something tells us that’s not going to be the last word here.