Posted on 03/21/2011 1:24:51 PM PDT by jazusamo
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) failed to pay $287,273 in personal property taxes on a private airplane for the past four years and will immediately repay St. Louis County for back taxes owed.
She’s also planning on selling the plane, which she co-owns with her husband, after POLITICO revealed last week that she had used taxpayer dollars for a political trip around her home state of Missouri. McCaskill had spent $76,000 from her Senate budget on trips on the aircraft over the past four years.
McCaskill called a Monday press conference after POLITICO asked questions about whether she had paid her personal property taxes on the aircraft.
“I have convinced my husband to sell the damn plane,” McCaskill said on a conference call with reporters. “I will never set foot on the plane again.”
The payment of back taxes and the sale of the aircraft is the latest chapter in what has become an embarrassment and a political problem for McCaskill, who is up for re-election next year in a critical swing state.
McCaskill said there was no effort to evade taxes, noting that she had paid $38,800 in sales taxes on the plane for the past 55 months. But she said she was “disappointed” in herself for not ensuring the property taxes were paid.
“There are people I could blame for this,” she said. “[But] I take full responsibility for the mistake. I shouldn’t have assumed somebody was doing it.”
Whoopsy.
>> ...the latest chapter in what has become an embarrassment and a political problem for McCaskill, who is up for re-election next year...
T O A S T
After just reading the headline I thought “wow, you can now file your tax return from your Blackberry while flying on a plane.” Seriously though, property taxes are obscene. We need the Fair Tax.
It’s nice to be in the ruling class, where you can rip the government off for more than most people make . . . and just say “whoops” and write a check without paying penalties when you get caught.
I hope it puts her campaign into a tailspin.
Taxes are for the little people.
“I have convinced my husband to sell the damn plane,”
I am sure ,now it will be a damn plane. Typical liberals ! one rule for them and a different rule for the masses!
Pshaw! Laws and rules are for other people, the ruling class.
Democrats just have to say “oops, sorry”, and it’s all good with the Democrat-Media Complex.
Pshaw! Laws and rules are for other people, not the ruling class.
That's over $70,000/per year in personal property tax. What the hell is the tax rate there? Or is this a billion dollar F-22 that she owns?
I bet dems are behind making this an issue. They would probably like to replace her with another candidate.
Pay up, Claire.
Property taxes are a crime against liberty. Let’s hope the Senator agrees and proposes rules that allow her constituents to avoid these taxes like she did.
It sure is nice that she has that much money available that she can pay it back at the drop of the hat.
Secondly, the tax code is so effed up that things like this shouldn't happen in the first place.
IT'S WAY PAST TIME FOR A FAIR TAX!
I don’t what type plane it is but it has to be a darned expensive one.
She paid it all back? Oh, that’s okay now. Tell that to Wesley Snipes.
“There are people I could blame for this,”
Hey McCaskill, quit lying! Just admit, “Well they caught me”!
Maybe she took trips for work and wrote them off?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.