Posted on 08/13/2003 8:48:11 AM PDT by holyscroller
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Sen. Tom Daschle's (D-SD) new Washington home has been giving the Senate minority leader headaches of late. Last week, Club for Growth, the Washington-based, anti-tax group, began airing ads in South Dakota that imply the senator's "very, very, very big house" purchased in April for $1.9 million betrays his down-home image.
Now another controversy surrounding the palatial French colonial on Washington's exclusive Foxhall Road has emerged. A Talon News search of DC property records revealed that Daschle is receiving the homestead tax credit.
The District of Columbia allows a $30,000 deduction against a property's tax assessment for the calculation of taxes. Even though every owner-occupied property is eligible for the tax credit, it was enacted to protect lower income homeowners from sharp increases in property taxes due to skyrocketing property values in Washington.
The District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue confirmed that the house is in the senator's name and that the property is receiving the homestead deduction. The deduction does not carry over from the previous owner, as any change in ownership requires a new application for the credit.
But Daschle may not even qualify for the tax credit, since one of the requirements is that the property must be the owner's primary residence. South Dakota law requires that its elected officials be residents of the state. Therefore, Daschle would be precluded from claiming his Washington home as his primary residence. The senator's tax savings is less than $1,000 a year.
Stephen Moore, President of the Club For Growth, told Talon News, "We have continued to make the case that he is a Washington resident and not the average man of Aberdeen."
Moore added, "The fact that he is claiming the District of Columbia homestead deduction further supports the idea that Daschle has become a creature of Washington, out of touch with the people of South Dakota."
Sioux Falls, South Dakota businessman and potential senate candidate Neal Tapio told Talon News, "It turns out Senator Daschle's blushing bride is blushing because of the sheer hypocrisy of her public and private husband."
Tapio continued, "Publicly, Tom criticizes Republicans for giving tax cuts to the rich and privately he uses Enron-like tax loopholes to save every penny he can."
Tapio was struck by the irony of the tax credit controversy, noting that the senator and his wife are in the upper 5% of income earners. He said, "Claiming a tax credit designed for low-income wage earners while railing on the Republicans for tax cuts for the rich is brazen hypocrisy."
Tapio also commented on Daschle's traditional car tour of South Dakota during the August recess saying, "Trading a 1978 Oldsmobile in South Dakota for a $2 million French colonial in Washington, DC tells us Tom has lost touch with his SD roots."
Tapio noted another irony in the tax issue. He pointed out that it was just last week that Daschle's Senate colleague Max Baucus (D-MT) requested an IRS investigation of a South Dakota non-profit organization that had run ads focusing on Daschle's voting record.
The District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue told Talon News that the matter would be investigated.
"Claiming a tax credit designed for low-income wage earners while railing on the Republicans for tax cuts for the rich is brazen hypocrisy."
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