Geithner Kept Reimbursements For Taxes He Didn’t Pay

Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary-designate not only cheated the U.S. government out of thousands of dollars in taxes, he actually pocketed money that his employer gave him as reimbursement for the taxes he never paid.

A national news magazine reports that Timothy Geithner’s problems are much more serious than previously reported. Besides failing to pay the U.S. government $34,000 in taxes, Obama’s pick to run the agency that ensures the nation’s financial security kept money earmarked as restitution for taxes he didn’t pay. 

At the time Geithner, considered to be a brilliant financial markets specialist, worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which oversees the global financial system. For years (from 2001 to 2004) Geithner didn’t pay Social Security or Medicare taxes on his lucrative salary yet he gladly cashed the IMF’s tax restitution checks. 

The IMF gives employees an extra allowance, known as gross-up, to cover tax payments. To get it employees must file a detailed tax allowance request and the organization then follows up with a check to cover the amount.

Geithner filed and signed the requests for years but didn’t follow through with his obligation. The forms clearly commit the employee to pay the taxes for which he or she is receiving a tax allowance payment from the IMF. For years Geithner accepted the allowance yet blew off the Internal Revenue Service as well as the commitment he had made by signing the official form.  

It wasn’t until Obama recently tapped him to be Treasury Secretary that Geithner decided to finally pay his hefty tax bill. Otherwise, it seems he had no intention of correcting his serious wrongdoing. Incredibly, he may soon head the nation’s crucial economic rescue plan at the agency that supposedly promotes economic stability.