Paying Taxes

Today, two people whose political persuasion I share bit the dust, hopefully permanently. In one case, they did not pay taxes on the value of compensation they received. In the other, they did not pay taxes because it was just a household employee -- and because their peers did not pay taxes on theirs either.

I'll cut the person who did not pay taxes on the perks some slack. When no money changes hands, it's hard to place a value on services. It's still not right, but I can see where, absent a 1099, it's easy to overlook compensation.

Regarding taking household help off the books, however, I take no prisoners. It is a despicable, scummy thing to do.

Ironically, I came to realize this because of my wife, who, at the time we actually had household help, was a -- get this -- INVESTMENT BANKER!

It was the late 1970s, and we had a baby at home, and we needed to hire a nanny (actually, she didn't live in, so I guess she was technically a babysitter). None of our friends admitted having their babysitters on the books. At least a few of the women we interviewed expressed a desire to be off the books.

My wife, bless her, said that if one was an investment banker, one, like Caesar's wife, must be above reproach. If you were the underwriter for a respectable corporation, like The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, for instance, and if you were an officer of The First Boston Corporation, your personal character was a reflection on both companies. They TRUSTED you to be totally honest and above board. She felt that one's failure to honor one's personal legal obligations was indefensible.

She made a good case, and she convinced me (I, the skeptic, worked -- where else? -- at Citi). We indeed did have our babysitter on the books. We paid our taxes. We don't know anyone else who did this. Everybody else cheated -- and not just the government or their employer or whatever shambles their own personal morals might have been in, they also shortchanged the employees -- the people to whom they entrusted the care and upbringing of their children.

Frankly, anybody who takes household employees off the books is either an utterly thoughtless and opportunistic conformist or else morally deficient. Both qualities should be disqualifiers for both public and corporate office. I am grateful that this appears to be increasingly the case, and can ask only that the trend continue.

Furthermore, where are the investment bankers of yesteryear?