Rangel – more tax antics

In a story that ought to be on page one instead of page two (and it’d be a headline for a Republican caught doing the same thing) the Washington Post reports that Charlie Rangel, millionaire congressman who pretends to care about the poor and the inner cities has apparently been cheating both Washington, DC and New York City out of tax revenue;

Rangel received the “homestead exemption,” a property tax break for people who live in a permanent, primary home in the city, that reduced the taxes he paid on a house on Colorado Avenue NW in the Crestwood neighborhood. Rangel and his wife, Alma, bought the four-bedroom house when he first entered Congress in 1971 and sold it in 2000 for $500,000.

City officials said Rangel, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, got the tax break from at least 1995 until 2000, amounting to $288 per year, said Natalie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Office of Tax and Revenue. Officials yesterday continued researching whether the break covered a longer period.
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The exemption is designed as a break for people who buy a home in the District and use it as a primary residence. But Rangel always has maintained his primary residence in New York, making him ineligible.

“We are reviewing the matter,” said Rangel’s spokesman, Emile Milne.

If Rangel incorrectly received a D.C. tax break, he could owe back taxes or penalties.

Receiving the District’s homestead exemption could also create a problem for Rangel in New York, where he and his wife have occupied several rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem. To qualify for the low-cost rentals, tenants in New York must claim them as a primary residence.

Yeah, see? It’s fine for Democrats to illegally get out of paying taxes, but for corporations who employ people to aviod taxes, to even lobby for lower taxes is somehow criminal. This all comes to light just a few weeks after discovering other tax law manipulation Rangel has used to keep more of his own money – while simutaneously calling for tax hikes on the rest of us. Using the word hypocrisy in this case would be an understatement.

Category: Politics