Monday, February 09, 2009

Labor Secretary Nominee Has Tax Problems Too

Web CPA recently discussed another of Obama’s cabinet nominee’s who is having tax problems, Hilda Solis. A snippet of the post can be read below, but the full text can be read here.

In the latest sign of tax trouble in the Obama cabinet, Labor Secretary-designate Hilda Solis’ husband had tax liens filed against him.

Confirmation hearings for Rep. Solis, D-Calif., were delayed after news of the tax problems surfaced. The White House admitted to the latest tax snafu after USA Today discovered 15 tax liens dating back to 1993 from the State of California and Los Angeles County totaling $7,630, some of which have since been paid. The tax liens had been filed against Solis’s husband, Sam H. Sayyad, and his business, Sam’s Foreign and Domestic Auto Center. Sayyad paid $6,400 this week to settle the outstanding tax liens, but still plans to appeal them.

Solis is the fourth nominee to the Obama administration to face tax questions in recent weeks. Earlier this week, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination for secretary of Health and Human Services after he was forced to pay $140,000 in taxes and interest, mainly for the use of a car and driver provided by a private equity firm between 2005 and 2007.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also needed to pay over $42,000 in taxes, interest and penalties for self-employment taxes that he owed from work he did between 2001 and 2004 for the International Monetary Fund.