Charlie Rangel Owns Up (Sort of)
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the nation's top tax-writer, held a press conference yesterday to deflate a burgeoning scandal concerning his failure to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from a Caribbean beach villa he owns.
When the story first broke, Rangel claimed he didn't know what "income" meant and that his wife, Alma, handled the family's investments and tax returns. Yesterday, he cast the blame even wider: It was the resort management's "failure to provide timely and regular statements," he said, and "the cultural and language barrier" of the Dominican Republic, where his luxury condo is located.
But more interesting is the degree to which Rangel relied upon superlawyer Lanny Davis over the last week to explain the basics of the tax system the chairman oversees.
Rangel:
If I was able to do myself what Lanny Davis was able to do, to actually get these amounts, that even though I didn't receive the checks, it had to be income if it was reducing my indebtedness.
In sharing this with my accountant, who worked very closely with Mr. Davis and the—with interpreters and the Dominican authorities, they were able to determine that my tax liability would have been little or nothing as a result of the foreign tax credit that I would enjoy and the fact that depreciation would have been taken into place.
And again:
And, over 20 years, I got half a dozen statements, some in Spanish, some in English. It showed a reduction of the mortgage. But you are right: Reductions of mortgage has [sic] to come from somewhere, and only because Lanny Davis had a team that actually talked with them in English and Spanish that, yes, I should have known you don't get a reduction in mortgage.
As I noted earlier, I still don't buy the line that the 78-year-old Rangel never took an interest in the 20-year performance of his single largest asset—he clearly marked the rent received from the property as "income" on his congressional financial disclosure forms, and he surely must have known his mortgage was paid up after he stopped listing it as a liability on those forms in 2003.
But even more galling is that the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee needed a white-collar criminal lawyer to explain the U.S. tax code to him. Rangel's fitness to serve notwithstanding, that says a good deal about the state of our tax system.
Tags: estate taxes | taxes | Charles Rangel
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Rangel can't grasp? C'mon.
The only thing that Rangel - and his peers - can't comprehend is that the laws apply to him. Possibly he believes himself entitled to an employee discount.
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the democrats destroy our economy
With the help of many high ranking liberal democrats,our economy was deliberatly crashed.The reason is obvious,or should be, to help obama steal the presidency.When you can block a bill put before congress in september 2003,that would have stopped f.m./f.m., from destroying our economy,and you fight against it,something's very wrong.Christopher(country wide) dodd,barney(openly gay ) frank,charles(waco)schumer,nancy(im a woman who has absolutely no regrets)polosi,which means she has never made a bad dicision,ever,harry(the war is lost ,the terrorist have won)reid,who believes strongly in nepotism for his sons, not yours.Then they look the american people directly in the eye and say 8 years of George bush and republicans are at fault.Even though it is so easy to look on the internet and check for yourself.According to liberal democrats,lib. hollywood,and the useless lying liberal media the economy helps the dems,the same people who in they're concern for average american people blocked any action needing to be taken,and even said that any suggestion that there is a problem was dead wrong,so quit wasting time on it.Unbelievably,they seem to be rite, the one thing they say all americans want to talk about,the one thing that (how rediculous)makes them look good.As americans,when we spend our hard earned money,on anything,we check it out thoroughly,cars, old and new,the insurance,where we buy gas and other related necessaties for our car.Where our kids will live and go to school,and the people that will be involved in they're life and ours.We check out the food we buy,the clothes we wear,.The movies our kids watch,and when we dont,there is usely a price to be paid that involves more than just money.We check out the church we go to ,we do comparative shopping on everything it cost us to LIVE.Were careful of who we associate with, and even more so of our kids friends.Yet when deciding on who to vote for as the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA,dont check out they're friends,just trust the liberal democrats.IN MY LITTLE TOWN OF NORTH VERNON,IN.they put two words on there signs, vote democrat,dont check out anything about them ,just trust them,even if you no there is somebody from another party more qualified,vote democrat.When it concerns obama, if they're was nothing to hide,and many things that would make him look good, they would demand that you check him out, thoroughly.This is not the case,so ,obviously there is smething to hide(lie about).Right now ,just a few houses from obama live ayers, ferakan,and the rezco family, minus one.They,(liberals),are convinced that Americans are to dumb to realize that obama, in his intense desire to boost his political carreer,both asked for and gave promises that he wont talk about,why? He actually has executive experiance,but wont talk about it either,why,go on-line and use your wideband,highspeed access to almost infinite imformation and check it out. yourself.
parking chucky
$35,000.00 per year for parking paid for by you and me.
That is 673.00 per day. That is roughly what he was getting for a night's rent in his villa in the Dominican Republic.
I'll give him this: At least he wasn't running a male prostitution business out of one of his apartment buildings.
Too senior Democratic legislators, Ebony Elmer Fudd and Porky Pig.
If you do not believe me about Barney Frank, look it up. He was chastised in Congress for his queerish illegal behavior.
Regards,
Thomas
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