With the Senate ripping through the tax records of one Obama nominee after the next, The Politico decided to see if those without sin were throwing the first "nay" votes.
Last week, Politico asked the offices of all 99 sitting senators to say who prepares their taxes, whether they or the Internal Revenue Service has ever discovered an error on returns they've filed, and whether they've ever had to pay back taxes.Of the 56 senators who have responded to the survey, eight said that mistakes have been made on their tax returns, and six said they have paid back taxes. Thirty senators said that no mistakes have been discovered on their returns and that they've never paid back taxes — at least to the best of their recollection.The offices of two senators — Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — told Politico that they would not answer the survey questions. The offices of Kyl and 42 other senators — 17 Republicans, 24 Democrats and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) — failed to respond at all.Some Senate offices took issue with the line of questioning, saying it was either unfair or an invasion of privacy. Aides to one senator told Politico that they considered the survey “presumptuous and intrusive.” Some Senate press secretaries encouraged others not to respond to the survey.
That's curious: why wouldn't those senators be eager to inform the American people that their tax records comply with the high standards they've so emphatically and articulately emphasized in recent weeks?
