L.A. TIMES: Obama’s Treasury secretary owed $26G’s in taxes, but it’s O.K. I don’t think this is that big a deal, but I can’t help but feel that if he were a Republican nominee it would be treated as a bigger one . . . .

But, as I’ve noted before, isn’t this — together with Charlie Rangel’s problems — an argument for tax simplification? I mean, if the Chairman of Ways and Means, and the Treasury Secretary nominee — who’s head of a Federal Reserve Bank — can’t keep their taxes straight, how can the government expect the rest of us to?

UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch writes: “They don’t want you to be able to keep up with that stuff, hoss. They want you a little scared. Just a little. You’re easier to control that way.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jim Treacher comments:

A plumber owed $1,000 in taxes that he didn’t even know about… …and it was headline news!

Good point!