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Trump’s budget pick admits failing to pay $15,000 in payroll taxes

AP PHOTO In this Sept. 21, 2016 file photo, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Mick Mulvaney, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the White House budget office, failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a household worker more than a decade ago, prompting the Senate’s top Democrat to issue a statement saying the lapse should disqualify his nomination.

“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,” Mulvaney, R-S.C., stated in a response to written questions from the Senate Budget Committee.

It was not immediately clear whether the lapse would have any effect on the confirmation of Mulvaney, a staunch conservative elected in the 2010 tea party wave. A hearing before the budget panel is scheduled for next week. Democrats opposing Mulvaney no longer retain the filibuster power that could block him.

But Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer quickly pounced, saying that tax problems have forced previous Democratic nominees for both President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama to drop out and that Mulvaney should, too.

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