Chairman Rangel, Ways and Means - Oops!

[Famspear]

Tax chairman Rangel failed to report income

By Daniel Trotta

[Reuters; Friday, Sept. 5, 2008]

House Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, failed to report $75,000 of income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, his attorney said on Friday.

The Democratic congressman, who has represented New York City's Harlem district for 38 years, plans to file an amendment to his previous tax returns and likely has no federal tax liability on the investment, lawyer Lanny Davis said.

Rangel probably owes nothing to the federal government because of depreciation and foreign tax credit, but he may owe a few thousand dollars to the state of New York, Davis said, calling Rangel's omission an "honest error" that he only realized due to recent media reports.

Details about the three-bedroom, three-bathroom beachfront home were first reported in the New York Post on Sunday and again in The New York Times on Friday.

Davis declined to comment on whether the matter embarrassed the head of the committee that drafts federal tax laws.

Rangel said in a statement his accountant would review the matter and that he would follow any recommendations.

Rangel has owned the villa at the Punta Cana Resort and Club since 1988 and rents it for as much as $500 per night, the Times said, but he never reported the income on his federal or state tax returns. Davis stressed that all investors in the time-share resort pay expenses and draw income on the resort collectively.

Rangel paid $80,000 for the unit, with a down payment of $28,500, in 1988 and spent $23,000 on renovations in 2003, Davis said. Discounting the down payment, his profit from the property over 20 years was a few hundred dollars, or less than 1 percent, Davis said.

"That's some cash cow," Davis said, mocking a headline in the Post.

The resort sent twice-annual statements to Rangel that detailed the reduction in his debt on the property, Davis said. Those statements were received by Rangel's wife and not given to the accountant, the lawyer said.

Rangel's finances have been under scrutiny since July, when the Times reported that the lawmaker lived in multiple reduced-rent apartments provided under a plan to preserve affordable housing in New York City.

Rangel defended his right to maintain those below-market rentals, but agreed to give up an office that he used for campaign activities.

Rangel has asked for a congressional ethics inquiry on that matter and was considering requesting a similar review of his Dominican property, Davis said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080905/pl_ ... JBQr9Z.3QA

[Number Six]

He has been right on tax policy--the plan he presented last fall was fair. But no high net worth Senator or Congressman/congresswoman can have much credibility against the tax cheats, and the high income citizens who are paying only 15% in capital gains and reaping large profits with low taxes. It would be some spectacle to see John Kerry or John McCain get up on the Senate floor and deride the tax cheats and argue against making the Bush tax cuts permanent.

[Number Six]

Agreed. I would argue that had taxes been raised in 2001 as the price we pay in the US for government, it would have encouraged rich and poor to be more engaged citizens. "If I have to pay that much more, I will insist on better government." Americans know money, pay attention to government spending, and become cynical and apathetic when there is a disconnect between what goes in to the US Treasury and what is spent by the same government. Or, are we to believe, as the "patriots" insist, that taxes are voluntary and they go, not, for actual government services, but elsewhere? The military is the largest pork barrel source. But those who engage in substantial tax fraud during war time, even a contrived and barely defensible war, have failed as citizens and should pay a price.

[Demosthenes]

This Daily News scoop popped over the weekend:
"Rep. Charles Rangel may have a few things to worry about right now, but divorce isn't going to be one of them. The embattled Harlem congressman this week withdrew a petition to divorce his wife of more than 40 years - just as jurors were set to be picked for a public trial."
The Ways and Means chairman cited Alma Rangel's handling of his finances as one reason he may not have paid the appropriate taxes on his Dominican rental unit.
The back-burner divorce proceeding had been going on since early 2007. In the course of the initial filing Rangel had to disclose details about his income and net worth -- similar to the material that made it into New York Times and New York Post investigative stories.

[Demosthenes]

Let's summarize.

Rangel decides to divorce his wife of 40 years. Shortly thereafter, he gets in hot water over some foreign investments left off their joint tax returns. Even though Rangel is the Chairman of the tax writing committee, he says his wife handles the taxes, and he doesn't know anything about that (innocent spouse.)

Rangel is now facing possible criminal charges for not disclosing the foreign investments on his ethics forms (Senator Stevens was indicted on a similar charge recently) and it suddenly occurs to Rangel that while his wife can't testify against him, his ex-wife can, so he calls off the divorce...

Just a thought.

[Famspear]

Another report.....

Rangel pays IRS, alleges persecution
He tells New Yorkers that he has done nothing dishonorable
The Associated Press
[Friday, Sept. 19, 2008]

WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel wrote six checks for about $10,800 in back taxes, and then penned an open letter to New Yorkers Friday, saying he has done nothing dishonorable and is the target of a GOP "guerrilla war."

Rangel, the dean of the New York congressional delegation, has faced a string of embarrassing revelations — he didn't pay taxes on rental income for a beach house in the Dominican Republic; he used three rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, including one for a campaign office; he used his congressional stationery to drum up private donations to a college center named after him.

He ended up writing a number of checks to cover taxes due on his 2004, 2005, and 2006 returns, related to the unreported rental income, said his chief of staff, George Dalley.

The federal government tab ended up being $4,803, according to Rangel's accountants, while he wrote checks totaling $6,022 to New York state. The state figure includes a small percentage owed to the New York City authorities.

[ . . . ]

A House ethics committee plans to investigate, and Republicans have called for the 19-term congressman to be removed from his powerful position as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. After private meetings with House Democratic leaders earlier this week, Rangel was able to keep the post.

"Last July, the Republican Party declared guerrilla war against Democrats and since then has made every effort to smear me and members of my party," Rangel wrote in the letter.

"My record in the Ways and Means Committee and 38 years in Congress is unassailable, so they've pried into my private life and used insinuation and half-truths to write stories that sell papers," Rangel wrote.

When asked Friday in an interview with New York's WCBS-TV how the chairman of the House tax writing committee, could get into tax problems, Rangel said: "I can just say that it is a series of mistakes that are unconscionable, but we're not talking about any intention to avoid or evade the law."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26798659/

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

"Charlie Rangel's comments are clearly disgraceful," Rep. Peter King, R-Long Island, said. "This is just another liberal Democrat who can't accept an independent woman running for president."

It looks like Rep. King is also prone to mis-speaks. Alternatively, he has missed the minor point that Palin is the GOP candidate for vice-President.

EDIT: Palin is also far from being "independent", in the political sense.

[Demosthenes]

It's nice to see that Rangel is finally getting the scrutiny he so richly deserves.

Last updated: 12:20 pm
September 18, 2008
Posted: 4:06 am

WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel has been using a House of Representatives parking garage for years as free storage space for his old Mercedes-Benz - a violation of congressional rules and a potential new tax woe for the embattled lawmaker, The Post has learned.

The 1972 silver sedan is registered to Rangel, who is already under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and is parked in a coveted section of an indoor lot, near elevators that lead to his office.

The car is covered with a protective tarp and has no license plates. Rangel's registration on the vehicle expired in 2004, state records show.

House rules forbid use of the garage for long-term storage more than 45 days - and congressional aides told The Post that Rangel's car has been sitting there for years.

Rangel today told The Post, "I told you I am not discussing that. I want to be kind and gentle -- please let me be." The veteran Harlem Democrat, who is chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, is under fire for numerous lapses.

House Republicans were quick to criticize Rangel's latest gaffe.

"In a way, this latest revelation is symbolic of how Charlie Rangel and the Democrat-led Congress have chosen to conduct themselves. Rangel continues to openly thumb his nose at the law while remaining parked atop the most powerful committee in Congress. The 'most ethical congress in history' continues to embarrass itself," NRCC Press Secretary Ken Spain said in a statement.

Rangel has asked that the House ethics panel examine his possession of four rent-regulated apartments; his tax liability stemming from his ownership of a vacation home in the Dominican Republic; and his use of House stationery to solicit donations for a "center for public service" he is launching.

A House Web site on parking regulations informs anyone with a space that, under IRS regulations, the benefit of the free parking is considered "imputed income" and must be declared to the government.

The spaces are valued by the House at $290 per month, the site says - about the monthly cost of leasing a space in a private DC-area garage.

If the car has been in that space since its license plates were surrendered four years ago, the imputed income would be nearly $5,000.

In addition to the storage issue, the vehicle - valued at roughly $10,000 to $15,000 - runs afoul of other rules set forth on the House Web site because it does not have license plates and does not display a current House parking permit.

New York State Department of Motor Vehicles records show the Mercedes, along with several other cars, is registered to Rangel at his address on West 135th Street.

The records indicate that in 2002, the registration was valid and Rangel had special Congress-issued license plates with the number 15.

His registration was suspended on the vehicle in October 2004 because it did not have valid insurance coverage, state records show. Rangel voluntarily surrendered his plates that year.
In addition to a late-model Cadillac DeVille that Rangel leases and the Mercedes in the House garage, state records show he also owns a 1989 Mercedes-Benz convertible, a 2001 Chrysler and a 1993 Ford.

Rangel's woes first began last year, when The Post reported that he wanted permission from the Federal Election Commission to use $64,500 from his "leadership" political-action committee and campaign account to commission an elaborate portrait of himself to hang in the Ways and Means Committee room.

This summer, Rangel was hit with a series of wallops about his ethics.

It was revealed that he had four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, including one he had been using as a campaign office. He has since agreed to give up that office.

He was then hit with a flood of questions after The Post reported that he had failed to disclose in his federal filings income that he'd earned from renting out the luxury villa in the Dominican Republic, which he has owned for 20 years.

He was forced to admit that he never paid taxes on $75,000 in rental income he'd received on the property over 20 years.

He has also admitted his past two decades' worth of returns were riddled with errors, and has hired a forensic accountant to examine them.

The waitlist for a Ways and Means staffer to get a parking space is about five years.

[Mr. Mephistopheles]

Rangel's actions also explain why that even though the president's approval rating is abyssmally low, it is still nearly thrice that of Congress' approval rating.

Surely you would agree that Rangel isn't the only bad apple in Congress. There is far too much glad-handing, corruption, and partisanship throughout the entire body.

[Burzmali]

Rangel's actions also explain why that even though the president's approval rating is abyssmally low, it is still nearly thrice that of Congress' approval rating.

Actually 30% Bush to 18% Congress, in the latest polls I can find, though I am surprised its even that high given that 1) it is election season and 2) the dems hold one and the gop the other.