President Barack Obama's nominee to be U.S. trade representative, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, has agreed to pay nearly $10,000 in back taxes after errors were found in his past returns, the Senate Finance Committee said on Monday.
Kirk is the fifth of Obama's nominees to run into trouble over unpaid taxes following Obama's campaign promises to bring a higher standard of ethics into government.
White House officials described Kirk's errors as minor. "We are confident that Mayor Kirk will be confirmed," said White House spokesman Ben LaBolt.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said he believed Kirk was "the right person for this job" and promised to move his nomination quickly. The panel will hold a hearing on Kirk's nomination next Monday.
A review of Kirk's tax returns for 2004 through 2007 revealed he failed to pay income taxes on $37,750 in speaking fees he donated to his alma mater, Austin College.
He also claimed a bigger expense for Dallas Maverick basketball tickets and for tax and accounting fees he paid as a partner in his law firm than he was entitled.
The panel also found errors in Kirk's charitable deductions that prompted him to revalue a television set he donated at $1,500 instead of $3,000.
Kirk, who was picked by Obama in December for the trade job, told the panel he initially believed the speaking fees he received were not taxable because he gave them to Austin College to fulfill a scholarship pledge.
However, last October, Kirk paid $2,327 in back taxes and interest charges for a speaking honorarium and dividends he failed to report as income in 2006 after the Internal Revenue Service spotted the error, the panel said.
That prompted the Finance Committee to examine whether Kirk should have reported all of the speaking fees he gave to Austin College as income, the panel said.
Kirk met with the Finance Committee staff on February 19 to answer questions about his past returns and submitted additional information to the committee last week.
Republicans said they were still reviewing the tax errors and the steps Kirk has taken to correct the approximately $9,975 in back taxes he owes.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had to pay $34,000 in late self-employment taxes, but still won confirmation by the Senate.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis faced questions over her husband's business taxes and was also confirmed.
But Tom Daschle, Obama's first choice to be health secretary, withdrew from consideration after paying $140,000 in back taxes and penalties.
Nancy Killefer, Obama's choice to oversee budget and spending reform, also withdrew over tax issues.
(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan; editing by Jackie Frank)
