Dems Use Homestead Exemption to Avoid Taxes

Democrats love taxes. So much so that Joe Biden claimed paying higher taxes is a patriotic act, which must make April 15 some kind of utopian version of Flag Day.

The problem is that Democrats don’t like paying taxes. Over the past several weeks we’ve learned enough to make the words “Obama Cabinet” and “taxes” a running punchline. Similarly, Rep. Charles Rangel’s (D-N.Y.) lawyer has stated that Rangel, who as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is the top tax-writer in the land, did not know rental income on his hacienda in the Dominican Republic was, well, taxable.

In recent days, we’ve learned two other senior House Democrats have avoided paying the taxes our vice president finds so patriotic.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), like Rangel a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, has benefited from claiming his home in Maryland as his principal residence. As reported by Bloomberg’s Tim Burger, the residential declaration — which could call into question Stark’s eligibility to serve his California congressional district — has saved the congressman a total of $3,853 in taxes over the past two years.

New York Rep. Eliot Engel (D), who represents the Bronx, benefited from a homestead exemption in Maryland that was sought on two separate occasions, it was recently reported. The exemption, in place since 2005, has netted Engel more than $5,000.

I have some experience with this issue. While working for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), a Charlotte Observer reporter informed me that the senator was one of handful mistakenly receiving an exemption from the District of Columbia — despite his having specifically rejected any exemption and having the paperwork to prove it. After multiple phone calls to the District of Columbia assuring them that the senator lived in North Carolina and did not seek and did not want any exemption, the District admitted the mistake was theirs. The senator promptly paid the amount due and the matter was closed.

There’s a lesson here. The New York Post story on Rep. Engel quotes a Bronx teacher who says, “If he’s not paying his share, that means others are paying more. That would be a problem for me.” Voters rightly bristle at the notion of a double-standard, especially when it comes to politicians avoiding taxes. Ask Tom Daschle, Timothy Geithner or Nancy Killefer.

Reps. Engel and Stark should step up and do the right thing — designate homes in their congressional districts as principal residences and pay whatever taxes they have thus far avoided.