Posted on 05/17/2021 9:00:48 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
ATLANTA — A Channel 2 Action News investigation has found that Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her husband have two active homestead exemptions, which is against Georgia law.
A homestead exemption is a big tax break any Georgia homeowner is entitled to for their primary residence. It is against the law to file for more than one.
But Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray pulled records showing that the Greenes are getting the tax break on two different homes in two different counties.
In a statement, Greene’s office told Gray to mind his own business and called it a “pathetic smear” when he asked them about the homestead exemptions.
Greene still owns a North Fulton county home, but also bought a $610,000 house in Floyd County last year in the 14th Congressional district, which she represents.
A member of Congress does not have to live in the district they represent. But what you legally cannot do is file multiple homestead exemptions.
William Perry is the founder of the nonprofit Georgia Ethics Watchdogs.
“You get a tax break for your permanent residence. But you don’t get to do that in two places. That’s against the law,” Perry said.
Through open records requests, Channel 2 Action News pulled the Greenes’ homestead exemption applications in both Fulton and Floyd counties.
In the Floyd county application, Greene’s husband left blank the line that asked if they had another active exemption on any property.
But Fulton County tax officials confirm to Gray, that Greene never stopped getting the tax break on the Fulton property.
The Fulton County Board of Assessors said in a statement:
“The property owners filed for homestead exemption in Fulton County in May of 2019 and it became effective for the 2020 tax year. Per GA law, you can only have one homestead exemption. In this case, Fulton County will consult with Floyd County to confirm and determine in which county the exemption is not valid.”
Channel 2 Action News contacted Greene, who said in a statement:
“Georgians care about their livelihoods and their family’s safety. Yet WSB is focused on paperwork, which is being taken care of. I’m a proud resident of the 14th district. Justin Gray needs to mind his own business instead of launching yet another pathetic attempt to smear me and my family.”
But it’s more than a paperwork issue, it’s against Georgia law.
The penalty for filing a false homestead exemption according to Georgia code is twice your tax bill. For the Greenes, according to their 2020 bill, that could be nearly $12,000.
“This isn’t a paperwork issue, this is fraud. You can’t accidentally declare homestead exemption in two different counties,” Perry said.
UPDATE: More than 15 hours after our story aired, a spokesman for Marjorie Taylor Greene issued a second, new statement calling it “fake news” and blaming Fulton County for the error writing: “Fulton County did not respond to requests to cancel the exemption in January, possibly due to COVID. Everything has now been corrected”
Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray reached out to Fulton County to see if they received anything from Greene, however Fulton County previously told Channel 2 Action News they had received no communication or documents from Greene regarding the Homestead tax exemption.
Rookie mistake on Greene’s part. Thats going to be the first thing someone who doesn’t like a representative is going to investigate, questions of residency.
This explains the three-name thing.
The homes could be in differing names, too.
Fake news won’t investigate liberals, but will grasp at straws to smear conservatives.
Knowing the history of media (including local tv hacks who are yearning for attention), I believe this will turn out to be a nothing burger.
Here is some info on Justin Gray, the “journalist” who makes a big deal about paperwork but ignores Democrat vote fraud:
https://www.wsbtv.com/author/justin-gray/
More info discovered about WSB-TV’s “Justin Gray”: he MAY be a latent racist. You see, his “bio” on the fake news web site where he is employed as a “journalist” says he lives in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta.
Justin Gray has chosen to live in a virtually all-white enclave of the beautifully DIVERSE city of Atlanta. But the Virginia-Highlands area is nearly 88% WHITE!
INVESTIGATE!
https://www.zipdatamaps.com/nh-atlanta-neighborhood-virginia-highland
Dig deep enough and you can find some rule or regulation broken for any American. This is being weaponized against conservatives like Gaetz and now MGT.
What angers me most is I don’t think it is Democrats doing it. No one is going after McConnell loyalists. It is the Republicans who don’t play ball with the establishment that are on the list to be destroyed.
So glad my new state doesn’t have one listed...
It worked.
I recently changed my primary residence and tax exemptions from Cobb to Gilmer county Georgia. Gilmer Co. would not make the homestead exemption active until they had a letter from Cobb verifying the cancellation of the exemption there. The homestead exemption is nothing but if she is over 62-65 the exemption from school tax in most counties is significant.
If they claimed the exemption on the new house and cancelled the exemption on the old house but the machinery of government failed to record the change, it would appear as if they are trying to claim both exemptions. Also, if they cancelled the exemption on the old house but the paperwork for the original exemption does not mention the subsequent dropping of the claim, it might appear to the casual observer that two claims were being made.
If you are doing opposition research and found the claim and a record of the cancellation, you could ignore the cancellation and scream about two homesteads. By the time the facts get out the damage is done and you go on your merry way, pocketing your fee for the 'dirt' you found.
Covid caused a backlog of paperwork in government offices.
Show the document where it was asked to rescind the homestead exemption for the first home. It’s pretty simple. Most everyone doing that would have sent the letter certified, tracked, or gotten a receipt from the clear.
Easy peasy.
That would make the issue go away today.
why do they find the slightest offense by a Repub and ignore Hunter, Clinton and every other Dem? Talk about selective outrage.
2 homestead exemptions. A real crime against humanity. 🙄
From the article:
“The penalty for filing a false homestead exemption according to Georgia code is twice your tax bill. For the Greenes, according to their 2020 bill, that could be nearly $12,000.”
My understanding is that in Georgia, homes are taxed at 40 percent of their “fair market value”. For a $610,000 home, that would be $244,000. The Homestead Exemption is $2,000. So what’s in play here is $2,000 x the tax rate set by the county for residences. The rate in Floyd County is 0.78%. $2000 x 0.78% = $15.60.
The rate in Fulton County is 1.08%. $2000 x 1.08% = $21.60
Greene says her primary residence is the home in Fulton Co. That means she should lose the exemption in Floyd County, and pay $15.60 a year more in property tax there.
So this reporter is beating his drum on this over, arguably, $31.20, if the double tax penalty applied. It’s the scandal of the age! No need to look at the Bidens’ millions in influence peddling — Greene cheated Floyd Co. out of $15!
She probably had to have photo Id to get that exemption . . .
“Doesn’t the state prevent them from doing it on more than one home?”
Apparently not. I had house, got married, moved in with new wife, rented house. Got divorced, bought new house. Never thought about it, but had homestead exemption on both houses. When I realized it, I figured if I owned up they would want back taxes. Eventually sold the rental. It seems like the revenue department would have a system in place but obviously they don’t. It take action on the owners part to stop homestead exemption. Who’s going to do that?
This is literally worse than Hitler
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