Our famous friend Joe the Plumber has some issues

Joe the Plumber woke up this morning as a political celebrity. But celebrities’ lives are closely scrutinized — and so Joe’s has been, too.

The Toledo-area resident has an Ohio income tax lien for almost $1,200, as reported by Bloomberg.

He’s a plumber without a plumbing license, as reported by the Associated Press. He says he doesn’t need one for residential work, but Lucas County says that’s wrong.

Likewise, his assumption that Barack Obama would raise his taxes is wrong, says ABC News. Joe Wurzelbacher had mistakenly said that the plumbing firm he wants to buy has income exceeding $250,000, the threshold where Obama’s tax hike would kick in. But it’s actually lower, ABC reported. It’s the business’s purchase price, $250,000 to $280,000, that’s higher.

That means that Wurzelbacher would actually get a tax cut if Obama became president and convinced Congress to pass his tax plan…

And he votes sometimes, although elections officials could have grounds to give him grief if they were so moved. As we reported earlier, Wurzelbacher is registered to vote under the name Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher. The first and middle names are correct. The last name should have a "u," not an "o."

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner noted the irony today: The Ohio Republican Party wants careful scrutiny of every new voter registration, but the tools it wants her to use — Social Security numbers and drivers’ licenses — could knock out legitimate voters due to typos, human error or software issues. Those voters then would have to get provisional ballots, which don’t account for much unless the election is tight, and which require additional ID procedures.

Brunner has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But if the GOP prevails, "Joe the Plumber and Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted – who are both technically ‘mismatches’ in this database – would have to use provisional ballots on Election Day," Brunner said in a news release.

and about that onerous tax burden.* It’s sort of an abstract concern for Joe

Mr. Wurzelbacher said he objects to Mr. Obama’s plans to raise income taxes on incomes above $250,000. He said he makes no where near that much money but he would not say how much he makes or if he ever expects to make $250,000. Court records from a divorce show Mr. Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.

Or maybe not so abstract

So Joe the Plumber made $40,000 in 2006, according to divorce records dredged up by the Toledo Blade.

Let’s say he’s had a good couple years since then and is now making $50 grand.

Under Obama’s tax plan, Joe the Plumber — a single father of one — would get a $614 break on his taxes.

That’s $213 more than he’d get from John McCain. Enough for an aspiring plumber to buy a Ridgid SeeSnake Micro Camera to check out the cause of mysterious clogs.

Can we stop talking about this now?

So why is Joe, an undecided voter, so fired up to argue with Barack Obama?

Speaking with Katie Couric, "Joe" said that he "wasn’t swayed" by the debate last night, yet pretty much knew who he was going to vote for. So if (a) he wasn’t swayed by the debate and (b) knows who he is going to vote for, then (c) he had already made up his mind before the debate. [video here]

Sarah Palin, though, cleared it up for us. Joe the Plumber? Is just really pissed about the bailout

With the crowd chanting "Joe! Joe! Joe!" Palin also referred to Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, the Joe the Plumber repeatedly cited by McCain in Wednesday night’s presidential debate as an example of a hardworking American concerned that Obama will raise his taxes. It was revealed Thursday that the Toledo area man, who had challenged Obama last weekend, doesn’t have a plumber’s license and owes the state back taxes.

"We’ve really got to hand it to Joe," Palin said. "Somehow he got Barack Obama to finally state his intentions in plain language — Senator Obama said he wants to spread the wealth and he wants government to take your money and decide how to best redistribute it."

See, it was all a misunderstanding. Joe the Plumber apparently mistook Senator Obama for Mr. Paulson.

Regret the error.

*Amusingly, the non-partisan geniuses at the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform have Joe’s tax bill going up $10k under the Obama plan.