Nancy Killefer, President Obama's selection for the new post of "Chief Performance Officer," has asked that her name be withdrawn, citing -- you guessed it -- tax issues.

"I recognize that your agenda and the duties facing your Chief Performance Officer are urgent. I have also come to realize in the current environment that my personal tax issue of D.C. Unemployment tax could be used to create exactly the kind of distraction and delay those duties must avoid," Killefer said in a letter to Obama, which was made public this hour.

Notably, when he announced Killefer's nomination in early January, Obama called the appointment "among the most important I will make." But shortly thereafter, the Associated Press had reported last month that Killefer failed to pay unemployment compensation taxes on "household help" in 2005, resulting in a $900 tax lien from the DC government.

Obama had praised her as "an expert in streamlining processes and wringing out inefficiencies so that taxpayers and consumers get more for their money." And perhaps most significantly, the then-president-elect singled out her work "modernizing the IRS."

Unlike Cabinet nominees Timothy Geithner and Tom Daschle, Killefer's issue was resolved within months of the problem arising, and not during the vetting process. It's unclear if there were other issues that may have prompted Killefer's decision. If not, her role with the IRS may have the prospect of the administration fighting for this appointment more untenable. Some may well suggest a gender double-standard.