Substance Matters

Recently I was having a conversation with a teenager and the subject of irony came up. And it got me thinking about the recent disclosures about the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee — the very committee tasked with overseeing and promulgating U.S. federal tax law — who had undisclosed assets and tax related oversights. I wondered whether I am in the minority in my outrage over the fact that the ranking member neglected to report income from renting a vacation home in the Dominican Republic and failed to file the Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) to disclose the existence of an offshore financial account with more than $10,000 on deposit and most recently neglected to disclose assets of $500,000 on Congressional filings.

As the old adage goes, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” So, why shouldn’t the American taxpayer be outraged over the apparent double standard being applied by elected members of Congress? If we are going to pick-up the tab to bailout the financial service and automobile industries, it seems that our elected officials, especially those tasked with legislating our tax laws, should be expected to comply with the very legislation that they put into place. We’re living on George Orwell’s Animal Farm — apparently Congressional animals are more equal than the rest of us.

At what point do we demand the resignation and prosecution? Seeing as this particular individual has a law degree, I just don’t see “ignorance of the law” holding up as a defense. Will this state of affairs go down in history as a humorous anecdote or a tragedy?

-RBJ