The Guy Rick Snyder picked to collect taxes in Detroit doesn't pay them!

[jtf1972]

I worked with a guy who got a letter from the IRS informing him he had not filed in three years. How did that happen? His father is an accountant and insists on doing his taxes. His father's reaction? "I guess I forgot. I'll take care of it." Said it without any surprise. My bet is that when someone else does your taxes this sort of thing happens all the time.

Good thing no republicans ever have tax issues. I mean, Mitt Romney obviously lived in his son's basement apartment & paid his Massachusetts taxes perfectly fine. No chance that he lived in any of the homes he owned while filing as a Massachusetts resident [[and voting there too. good thing there was no voting fraud committed!) But then again, I bet you would run out of republicans who cheat on their taxes before you would run out of democrats that ride unicorns while robbing 7-11's with bazookas that shoot rainbows of clean energy, or whatever. We get it. All democrats are scum, all republicans are saints.

[MidTownMs]

I am amazed that the "Nerd" didn't do his homework. To put a man in charge of a city with financial problems who can't pay his own bills is ludicrious. Snyder needs to get rid of him and find someone else.

Is there anyone out there with any integrity?

That person's mother hasn't been born yet.

[MidTownMs]

Let's not jump to conclusions here.

Why? Jumping to conclusions is a lot more fun than waiting for the facts.

[brizee]

Yep, just what I expected from the "I'll back Snyder at any cost as long as he goes after those animals in Detroit" group. The fact of the matter is this isn't on Orr as much as it's on Snyder. The vetting process never existed. You can try to pretend that it was a 4 yr oversight or however you want to rationalize it, but they weren't trotting this guy out on every media in the state and country not to sell him. This is a disaster for Snyder, and he knows it. Now I'm interested to see if the lap dog journalists in this town go after Snyder for being so sloppy and arrogant. Either way it looks bad!

No kidding.

This is fucking unacceptable.

I don't see the need to extend this man or the one who appointed him any sort of benefit-of-the-doubt, mulligan or credit.

It IS fun to watch smartest man in the room types like Snyder get egg right on their smug face though.

As for the media, it's funny Snyder and co were doing the rounds on "black" radio Friday, when he acted like they didn't exist for the entirety of his administration.

[illwill]

Let's not jump to conclusions here.

Why not? There isn't anything good about this.

[Not In MI]

If you're going to play this game for elected and appointed officials, I think you'll find that we'll run out of Democrats who didn't pay their taxes before we run out of Republicans who cheated on their wives, hired prostitutes, etc.

Kennedy family good for at least 20 or so cheaters...along with a few drug users, and at least one involuntary lobotomy.

[mwilbert]

People can draw whatever conclusions they want, but this doesn't seem like a big deal to me. As someone else said, the more complicated your finances, the harder it is to keep your taxes straight. In a situation like this, you end up paying the taxes, plus interest, plus a penalty, so it isn't very advantageous. If there were reason to think he was actually trying to evade the taxes, that would be more serious, but I haven't seen anyone claiming that, or any evidence of it. This whole employment tax problem arose because he was paying his household help legally, not under-the-table.

[Det_ard]

Shouldnt the correct title for this thread be "Yet Another Democrat Appointed to a Position Of Setting Economic Policy Is Found to Not Have Paid Their Taxes"

To wit:

On November 24, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Geithner to be Treasury Secretary.^[28][29] During his confirmation, it was disclosed that Geithner had not paid $35,000 in Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes from 2001 through 2004 while working for the International Monetary Fund.^[30]

The IMF, as an international agency, did not withhold payroll taxes, but instead reimbursed the usual employer responsibility of these taxes to employees. Geithner received the reimbursements and paid the amounts received to the government, but had not paid the remaining half which would normally have been withheld from his pay. The issue, as well as other errors relating to past deductions and expenses, were noted during a 2006 audit by the Internal Revenue Service^{[31][32][33][34]}

Geithner subsequently paid the additional taxes owed,^[35] and was charged $15,000 interest, but was not fined for late payment.^[36] In a statement to the Senate Finance Committee, Geithner called the tax issues "careless," "avoidable," and "unintentional" errors.^[35] Geithner testified that he used software to prepare his 2001 return, but that the tax errors were his own responsibility.^[37][38]

Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary on January 26, 2009


On January 26, 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed Geithner's appointment by a vote of 60–34.^[39][40] Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary by Vice President Joe Biden and witnessed by President Barack Obama.^[41]

Hey, if Obama thinks it's OK if the US Treasury Secretary had a little tax issue, it must be OK for a city EM.

[Novine]

Who said that Geithner's tax problems were "OK"? No one I knew. Back to Orr, the guy appears to have a track record of doing this. If you don't think it's a big deal, your entitled to your opinion. But no one is being fooled by pretending this is an oversight or a one time problem. As far as "jumping to conclusions", Orr admitted that day that he needs to pay.

[Ray1936]

jtf1972 said: " We get it. All democrats are scum, all republicans are saints."

The way I get it is ALL politicians are assholes. That better?

[Lowell]

oops.

If this is the 'Olympics of Restructuring' then why does this vaguely feel like a gold medal favorite who promised a world record tested positive just before the big games started?

$16K worth of liens is small stuff for a man of his means and there certainly was nothing illegal. He will survive this and it will be forgotten, but another skeleton in the closet could spell trouble. You know what they say about people in glass houses...

[corktownyuppie]

jtf1972 said: " We get it. All democrats are scum, all republicans are saints."

The way I get it is ALL politicians are assholes. That better?

Honestly, I don't get it. Forget about Snyder. Forget about Orr. Forget about Watson, Kwame, Coleman, Cavanaugh.

Dude hires a firm to do his taxes. It's brought to his attention that unbeknownst to him, there are unemployment taxes due to one of his employees and a lien has been placed on his home. Less than 12 hours later, he pays the bill and takes care of it.

It's careless and probably humiliating. But it's not a crime. If he was trying to get out of paying it, there are a whole lot better ways than having someone put a lien on your home.

I'm less concerned that he made the mistake. What's telling his how he acted once it was brought to his attention. He is going to make some mistakes in the process of straightening out our books. If he is attentive then as he was now, then I'll chalk that up as a win.

I've made my fair share of stupid mistakes in my life. Forgot to pay my car registration because they sent the renewal to an old address. I sent the State of Michigan tax payment in the same envelope as the federal one a few years ago.

In the first case, I got pulled over in the parking lot behind St. John Hospital [[in a parking lot???) because my tags were expired. In the second case, I got a letter from the State of Michigan. In both cases I paid the penalty and took care of it.

I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican or even a Black Panther. I may disagree with your policy preferences or political ideology. But that has nothing to do with whether or not you accidentally left your garage door open, or whether you wrote the wrong year on a check.

[fanniemae]

Orr probably has a huge nest egg. The tax lien is a drop in the bucket to what he is worth. I wish people would not get all riled up over this matter. He says he will pay, has in the past. Sometimes this stuff has to catch up to them for the people with big bucks to ante up. If some really bad stuff from his past shows up, I will be concerned. Like I said in another thread , due to nannygate issues in the DC area, residents of Maryland, DC and VA, can expect scrutiny over taxes. I want to give Orr a chance.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

People can draw whatever conclusions they want, but this doesn't seem like a big deal to me. As someone else said, the more complicated your finances, the harder it is to keep your taxes straight. In a situation like this, you end up paying the taxes, plus interest, plus a penalty, so it isn't very advantageous. If there were reason to think he was actually trying to evade the taxes, that would be more serious, but I haven't seen anyone claiming that, or any evidence of it. This whole employment tax problem arose because he was paying his household help legally, not under-the-table.

Exactly, again don't raise a red flag until one is there. I'm sure he will settle it. He isn't the first and damn sure won't be the last.

[Wesley Mouch]

No kidding.

This is fucking unacceptable.

I don't see the need to extend this man or the one who appointed him any sort of benefit-of-the-doubt, mulligan or credit.

It IS fun to watch smartest man in the room types like Snyder get egg right on their smug face though.

As for the media, it's funny Snyder and co were doing the rounds on "black" radio Friday, when he acted like they didn't exist for the entirety of his administration.

I'd rather celebrate something good. No matter what you think about his past -- isn't it great that he's getting on the radio and having a discussion with the 'black' community?

If he didn't, would you bitch about that?

[Zacha341]

Hah! There's been tax shannigans from the repub and the dem side of the isle. None one party seems too saintly when it comes to avoiding the tax man........

We get it. All democrats are scum, all republicans are saints.

[Zacha341]

I am not happy that we've arrive at the Detroit EFM status, but former Governor Jennifer Granholm and the giddy media therein engaged in the same introductory carnival showcase of her passing of mandates, and appointments of EFM's Art Blackwell of Highland Park and Robert Bobb of DPS et al....

The anointed-and-appointed 'smartest' people, in the room [[behind podiums, special news segments, applicable 'black' radio, church guests speakers etc.) implementing broad sweeping decisions, hand-shaking and back-slapping all the way predates Snyder.

It just seemed somehow less annoying, then, to some...

...I don't see the need to extend this man or the one who appointed him any sort of benefit-of-the-doubt, mulligan or credit.

It IS fun to watch smartest man in the room types like Snyder get egg right on their smug face though.

As for the media, it's funny Snyder and co were doing the rounds on "black" radio Friday, when he acted like they didn't exist for the entirety of his administration.

[Zacha341]

Well that's a point. It depends on which station.

I'd rather celebrate something good. No matter what you think about his past -- isn't it great that he's getting on the radio and having a discussion with the 'black' community?

[Zacha341]

Hah! Pesky tax evasion doesn't seem to abide partisan boundaries... we can see that up close and personal from the recent Kilpatrick and father court case!

Hey, if Obama thinks it's OK if the US Treasury Secretary had a little tax issue, it must be OK for a city EM.

[Zacha341]

Wow! What a place in the galaxy were 'partisan' lines define and determine behavior so precisely and neatly...... I must stop by and visit sometime soon!

If you're going to play this game for elected and appointed officials, I think you'll find that we'll run out of Democrats who didn't pay their taxes before we run out of Republicans who cheated on their wives, hired prostitutes, etc.

[Honky Tonk]

I discussed this "Lien" thing with a friend @ dinner, since I know nothing about it, and he told me this story. Friends of his live next door to a property owner who refused to keep a section of his land mowed. This in turn drew weeds & seeds onto their property, dumping, animals, etc. They took it upon themselves to keep his property mowed, but ended up putting a lien for services rendered on his property. Since he wasn't notified of the lien, he has no idea, and won't until he goes to sell his property. I'm still not sure exactly how liens and notifications work, but unless you can prove that Orr willfully, and with knowledge, refused to pay his taxes, I'm willing to give him a benefit of a doubt. Maybe some of the more legally knowledgeable members can chime in.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

http://www.freep.com/article/20130317/NEWS01/303170193/

Problem solved.

[Honky Tonk]

http://www.freep.com/article/20130317/NEWS01/303170193/

Problem solved.

Now maybe the rest of COD management will follow suit.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Now maybe the rest of COD management will follow suit.

That might be "wishful thinking" Honky Tonk.

[Honky Tonk]

That might be "wishful thinking" Honky Tonk.

OR, it might be sarcasm.....