January 30, 2009 9:59PM 

# Only the Little People Pay Taxes 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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Tom Daschle has joined Timothy Geithner in the not-so-exclusive club of Obama Cabinet appointees who evaded tens of thousands of dollars in federal taxes until they were vetted for their Cabinet nominations.

![Media Name: LeonaHelmsleyREX_468x306.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/img.dailymail.co.uk/9261256822/LeonaHelmsleyREX_468x306.jpg?itok=c6xuYyKE) 

It’s too bad Leona Helmsley can’t be nominated as Commerce Secretary.

I sympathize with anybody trying to hold down his tax bill. Government is too big and too expensive, few of us feel we get our money’s worth from our taxes, and we all have better uses for our money than bridges to nowhere and [free condoms](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18066.html). But honestly, shouldn’t people who want to *increase* taxes on the rest of us — like Daschle, Geithner, [Eleanor Holmes Norton](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4D71E39F933A2575AC0A966958260&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), [Chairman Charles Rangel](http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/23647.html), [Al Franken](http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/18430429.html), Governor David Paterson’s [top aide](http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/10/top-aide-to-ny.html), [Democratic National Convention](http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/07/democrats_dont_pay_gas_taxes_1.asp) staffers, [Al Sharpton](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354846,00.html), and so on — pay their own taxes?

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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