Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s pick for OMB director, failed to pay $15,000 in taxes for employee

Rep. Mick Mulvaney, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a household employee, according to a report Wednesday.

Mr. Mulvaney admitted the lapse in response to a questionnaire from the Senate Budget Committee, the New York Times reported.

“I have come to learn during the confirmation review process that I failed to pay FICA and federal and state unemployment taxes on a household employee for the years 2000-2004,” he said.

Mr. Mulvaney said he had subsequently paid more than $15,000 in taxes and is awaiting a state tax bill, plus penalties and interest.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said in response to the news that past standards on such tax issues should apply to Mr. Trump’s nominees.

“When other previous cabinet nominees failed to pay their fair share in taxes, Senate Republicans forced those nominees to withdraw from consideration,” said Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat. “If failure to pay taxes was disqualifying for Democratic nominees, then the same should be true for Republican nominees.”

The budget committee has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to consider Mr. Mulvaney’s nomination.

Mr. Trump’s team rallied behind the South Carolina congressman.

“Nobody is more qualified and more prepared to rein in Washington spending and fight for taxpayers than Mick Mulvaney,” the transition team said in a statement to the newspaper. “Congressman Mulvaney raised the issue surrounding the care of his premature triplets immediately upon being tapped for this position, and has taken the appropriate follow-up measures. The administration fully stands behind Representative Mulvaney.”

Mr. Mulvaney, first elected in 2010, has developed a reputation as one of the staunchest fiscal hawks during his time in Congress.

But such tax issues have derailed the nominations of other top-level nominees in recent administrations. In early 2009, former Sen. Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination to be President Obama’s secretary of health and human services after revealing he had to pay more than $100,000 in back taxes for a gift of a car and private driver.