This may be an odd question. I admit I’m not following the details of the senate confirmations as closely as I could, mostly for the reason that I don’t care who gets in and who doesn’t so long as whatever the final appointments are make good policy (the thing I am following).
So because I’m not actively looking at headlines on that front the only real news I have about the appointments is from The Daily Show and a little I’ve read on this board and references in other articles. My question is basically, why is the fact Geithner, the (now confirmed) Treasury Secretary being mocked for using Turbo Tax. From what I gather (remember, I’m 19, haven’t had a good chance to really do my taxes without significant parental training wheels yet) it simply generates a profile based on information gathered and fills in everything, and then you can edit it. I’ll admit it’s bad he ended up owing so much, but why is the fact he used the program inherently funny? It seems to me like mocking a programmer for using an IDE. Sure, I could do Java in notepad and then compile it via command line, but why bother when I can use IDE shortcuts and autogens and fix everything that needs to be fixed after the program does all the boring stuff.
Is there something I’m missing in the program that makes his use laughable? Is it just the back taxes? Is it just the (in my opinion) stupid idea a lot of people have that professionals should do things the hard way just because they know how? Am I getting exactly what is being mocked wrong? I’m at a loss on the why here.
[BTW Mods, I’m putting this in GQ in case there is a simple answer someone can explain, if this is really that much a matter of opinion bounce it to IMHO or GD as you see fit]
IMO, you tend to view these guys at the top as larger than life. Even though it isn’t true, you would imagine that a guy like Geithner would have a team of CPA pouring over massive amounts of records to do his taxes.
You just can’t imagine him sitting in his boxer shorts, slamming back a few brews, while he does his taxes…
It’s not that he should have done them by hand. It’s that he should have hired a professional.
Any tax program works well for people with a couple jobs, some investments, and maybe a small sidelight hobby for profit.
But IF you’re a quasi-celebrity (which all senior politicians are), with dozens of different sources of one-time income (speaking fees, “donations”, etc), AND lots of unusual and nebulous expenses (second homes, nannies, travel) AND you hope to be nominated for or run for high office someday (meaning massive scrutiny of back taxes), THEN you’d be a fool not to turn the whole thing over to a pro, AND tell them to play it extra safe, not try to save you the last nickel.
If you’re in that worldd, you need the pro as much for the extra record keeping as for knowing the arcana of what’s deductible and what’s not. Let them handle all your income, all your expenses and all your record keeping, not just do your taxes. Only then will somebody who understands the tax significance of every transaction have access to every transaction.
Many pretty-comfy folks do that. You help decide on the investments with your financial planner, and you have a couple credit cards to use. The hired help handles everything else. It’s not free, but it’s not that expensive when you’re making hundreds of thousands per year.