And as much as most people don't like to pay taxes, they understand it is the operating revenue for the federal government. It helps to ensure that the neediest among us have safety nets such as food stamps, welfare and health care. It funds regulatory systems, attends to our national security and pays executive salaries and those of our members of Congress.

According to the IRS Oversight Board survey, 72 percent of the 1,005 people surveyed said they believe it is "every American's civic duty to pay their fair share of taxes."

So why are some people so casual about this responsibility? And why would people in public life even take the chance that their taxes were not in good order? Thanks to the Internet, the whole world knows about Geithner's and Daschle's "tax problems." Had neither man been nominated for key posts in the Obama administration, though, these issues may not have surfaced for a long time, if at all.

Yet, it's the sort of thing that one's political enemies would lord over you if it served their purpose. It's all the more reason to keep your financial house in order, isn't it?

Marjorie Cortez, who hopes the bureaucrats who spend our money appreciate the labors behind most Americans' payment of those taxes, is a Deseret News editorial writer. E-mail her at marjorie@desnews.com.