Forgot your taxes? No worries!

It’s been hard to watch the Timothy Geithner tax fiasco without wondering what would happen if you or I had made an “innocent mistake” and not paid $34,000 in self-employment taxes for four years.
My guess is no one would be considering us for secretary of the treasury. Nor would the IRS, over which Geithner would have authority, be so forgiving.
Sure, the tax code is insanely complicated. But Geithner is no ordinary guy. He’s supposed to understand it all. He even signed a paper when he worked for the International Monetary Fund signifying he would pay these taxes.
I like this editorial in the Wall Street Journal today. We should all be given such a benefit of the doubt, right?