Trade nominee Kirk owes $10,000 in taxes

WASHINGTON -- Tax Troubles: Take Five opened at the White House Monday with revelations that another of President Obama's Cabinet-level nominees has problems with unpaid taxes.

The Senate Finance Committee announced Monday that Ron Kirk, nominee for trade representative, owes roughly $10,000 in taxes from 2005, 2006 and 2007 for speaking fees he donated to his alma mater.

The former Dallas mayor routinely gave his speaking fees directly to Austin College in Sherman, Texas, instead of accepting them, reporting them as income and paying taxes on them, the committee said. It said he has agreed to pay the debt.

Kirk, a lawyer in private practice, also deducted $17,382 for tickets to Dallas Mavericks basketball games as entertainment expenses but could not substantiate more than 7,000 of the expenses, so he owes $2,600 in back taxes for those expenses, the committee said.

Kirk, who served as Dallas mayor from 1995-2001, is the fifth Obama nominee to run into tax trouble.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who had failed to pay $34,000 in taxes, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, whose husband had roughly $6,400 in tax liens against his business, both were confirmed. Former senator Tom Daschle and former Treasury official Nancy Killefer, nominated for Health and Human Services secretary and chief procurement officer respectively, withdrew their names amid revelations about unpaid taxes.

If he is confirmed as U.S. trade representative, Kirk will serve as the nation's main trade negotiator overseas.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., who has scheduled a hearing Monday on Kirk's nomination, suggested the problems are not disqualifying.

"Mayor Kirk is the right person for this job, and I will work to move his nomination quickly," Baucus said. "I am confident he can successfully restore the confidence of Congress and the American people in a balanced international trade agenda."

The top Republican on the committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, had nothing to say beyond a joint statement he and Baucus issued about the committee's findings. Grassley spokeswoman Beth Pellett Levine said her boss is "reserving judgment."