Posted on 10/19/2009 4:58:41 PM PDT by Libloather
Don't pay taxes, get away with it
Evan Helmuth
Issue date: 10/19/09
Every year, thousands of Americans cheat on their taxes.
What makes this particular tax cheat significant is he is also largely in charge of writing America's tax laws.
Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-NY, is the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee - which is responsible for changes to the tax code - in the House of Representatives.
He is about the fourth most powerful person in Congress' lower house.
In his position as the "tax-writer-in-chief," Rangel has not been shy about wanting to raise taxes. He has voiced support for repealing the Bush tax cuts.
This action would have the effect of raising the amount paid by every single income tax payer.
It would also cut in half the tax break parents get for dependent children and it would raise taxes on investments.
It's definitely not a bright idea now, when investments are most needed to sustain an economic recovery.
Rangel has also voiced support for taxing the health insurance of more than half of all Americans.
Now you know how he feels about your taxes, let's review how he feels about his own.
Yeah, he just doesn't pay them - at least not until he gets a lot of bad press for skipping out on the check.
Members of Congress are required to disclose their incomes and assets every year.
Rangel fudged his original filings and amended them last month, revealing he had lied to everyone and actually has about twice the assets he reported.
Don't bother asking how he accumulated nearly $2 million on a congressman's salary of $175,000 a year.
He didn't marry into money, he wasn't a wealthy man before he was elected to Congress way back in 1970 and he didn't inherit his fortune.
In any case, the amended financial disclosures have prompted many people to look a little more closely into Rangel's finances.
What they have found is a man who wants to raise your taxes but repeatedly blows off paying his own.
Among other ethical problems (Rangel is the subject of two separate and ongoing ethics investigations), it appears Rangel did not pay federal income taxes on at least $75,000 in income from a rental property he owns in the Dominican Republic.
He also didn't report two properties he owns in New Jersey on his disclosure forms. By the way, he didn't pay property taxes on those either.
Finally, Rangel has, over the years, claimed as many as three addresses as his primary residence at the same time to get tax breaks and cheaper loans.
Given all of this, it would seem obvious such a person should probably not still be the chairman of the tax writing committee.
But common sense is in very short supply in Washington, D.C.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has stood by Rangel so far, refusing to remove him from his job as the chief tax writer or to cut him out of high-level negotiations over health care reform or other bills.
This can be partially explained by the fact Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., is next in line to take over as chairman of Ways and Means.
Stark is the only member of Congress to admit to being an atheist.
Fearing this might provoke uproar from the religious right or some other part of "fly-over country" Middle-America, Pelosi is reluctant to replace an old political ally in Rangel with Stark, who might give her an even bigger political headache than the ethical problems of his potential predecessor.
It looks like, for the time being, we will be stuck with a tax cheat writing our tax laws, unless, of course, Stark gets religion (literally) or Pelosi gets religion (figuratively) and drops Rangel from the Ways and Means Committee.
Hang on tight, Nancy.
Did everyone call the Nancy Pelosi and demand she remove Rangel from the Ways And Means Committee?
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