Obama trade nominee likely to be approved: senator

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate is likely to approve former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk to be U.S. trade representative even though he underpaid his taxes by nearly $10,000 between 2005 and 2007, a top senator said on Tuesday.

"They're innocent mistakes and I think he'll be confirmed," Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said.

Kirk has agreed to pay about $9,975 in back taxes after a review of his tax returns revealed that he failed to report as income $37,750 in speaking fees he donated to his alma mater, Austin College.

He also claimed the full cost of Dallas Maverick basketball tickets as a business entertainment expense and made other errors in his tax returns, Baucus' committee said on Monday.

The mistakes "were not intentional efforts to mislead," Baucus told reporters.

A spokeswoman for Senator Charles Grassley, the Finance committee's top Republican, has said he was reserving judgment for now on Kirk's nomination.

Another aide said Republicans were waiting to hear how Kirk addresses the issue when the Finance Committee holds a hearing next Monday on his nomination.

The White House has described Kirk's mistakes as minor and said they expected him to be confirmed.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Doug Palmer; Editing by Eric Walsh)