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发帖数: 897 | 1 WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice for White House
budget director failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a
household employee, he admitted in a statement to the Senate Budget
Committee, the sort of tax compliance issue that has derailed cabinet
nominees in the past.
In a questionnaire provided to the committee, Representative Mick Mulvaney,
a conservative from South Carolina and vocal proponent of fiscal restraint
noted, “I have come to learn during the confirmation review process that I
failed to pay FICA and federal and state unemployment taxes on a household
employee for the years 2000-2004.”
Mr. Mulvaney said he had subsequently paid more than $15,000 in taxes and
awaits the state tax bill, as well as penalties and interests. His
confirmation hearing before the committee is scheduled for Jan. 24. The
employee was a babysitter hired when Mr. Mulvaney and his wife had triplets
in 2000.
Attempts to reach Mr. Mulvaney’s office for comment were not successful. A
spokesman for the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Michael B
. Enzi, Republican of Wyoming, said he would have no immediate comment. Mr.
Mulvaney will almost certainly be asked about the issue at his hearing, and
Republicans on the committee are most likely aware of its existence.
The situation is similar to that of former Senator Tom Daschle, who in 2009
was forced to withdraw his nomination as President Obama’s nominee to lead
the Health and Human Services Department. During Mr. Daschle’s confirmation
process, it was revealed that he had paid roughly $140,000 in back taxes
related to a car and driver provided to him by a former employer, and to
some consulting income.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who is now the second-ranking Republican in
the Senate, said at the time that he would not support Mr. Daschle’s
nomination, calling his tax issue “a little too much to swallow.”
Mr. Daschle’s withdrawal came two weeks after Timothy F. Geithner, Mr.
Obama’s first Treasury secretary, was nearly knocked out with his
announcement that he had failed to pay $25,000 in payroll taxes while
working at the International Monetary Fund.
In a prepared statement, John Czwartacki, a spokesman for the Trump
transition team, said: “Nobody is more qualified and more prepared to rein
in Washington spending and fight for taxpayers than Mick Mulvaney.
Congressman Mulvaney raised the issue surrounding the care of his premature
triplets immediately upon being tapped for this position, and has taken the
appropriate follow-up measures. The administration fully stands behind
Representative Mulvaney.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, who has been
critical of Mr. Trump’s nominees, said in a prepared statement, “When
other previous cabinet nominees failed to pay their fair share in taxes,
Senate Republicans forced those nominees to withdraw from consideration. If
failure to pay taxes was disqualifying for Democratic nominees, then the
same should be true for Republican nominees.”
Two potential attorneys general for Bill Clinton — Zoe E. Baird and Kimba
Woods — lost their chances to become the first female chief law enforcement
officers in the land after their nominations were pulled following
revelations of nonpayment of “nanny taxes.”
The revelation of Mr. Mulvaney’s tax issue will test the Senate, which has
greeted tax issues of past nominees with bipartisan denunciations.
The process of confirming Mr. Trump’s nominees quickly has been somewhat
stymied because of a slow vetting process. Several hearings were delayed
because the nominees had not been cleared by the agency charged with
unraveling potential conflicts of interest.
Nominees undergo a rigorous screening by the F.B.I. and must clear the
Office of Government Ethics to unravel any potential conflicts of interest
that could present future legal problems. What is more, many committees have
their own screening process.
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