Not sure if I missed it, but I’m not seeing any claim regarding how $$$ much MTG supposedly saved in property taxes by filing two exemptions. In California, we have something similar where you can only claim a primary residence exemption on one home. But the exemption saves you a piddling 80 bucks a year. I’m sure that there are an analogous slew of penalties if you claimed more than one exemption, but if someone did it, it’d undoubtedly be due to a simple error not some nefarious intent. No one needs an $80 break that badly.
I was wondering how much it wound up to be in ‘savings’, too.
Seems like a silly thing for a higher profile person to do.
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.
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.”