Charlie Rangel, Rental Income, & Tax Evasion

Posted on September 5, 2008

Rep. Charles Rangel, Chairman of the Powerful House Ways & Means Committee, is in a bit of hot water for not declaring more than $75,000 in income between 1988 and 2007 on a rental property/second home in the Dominican Republic.

From the New York Times:

Representative Charles B. Rangel has earned more than $75,000 in rental income from a villa he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988, but never reported it on his federal or state tax returns, according to a lawyer for the congressman and documents from the resort.

Mr. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the federal tax code, bought the beachfront villa at the Punta Cana Yacht Club and has received twice-yearly payments from the resort, which rents the property for $500 or more per night.

Records from the development, now called the Punta Cana Resort and Club, indicated that Mr. Rangel’s rental profits varied from year to year, from $2,700 in 2004 to $7,600 in 1994.

A lawyer for Mr. Rangel, Lanny Davis, said on Thursday that the congressman would most likely file amendments to his tax returns for the years in question.

Back taxes my arse, why isn’t this guy being indicted for tax evasion? I’ll wager the GDP of the Dominican Republic that if he were a Republican he would be facing tough questions from a Federal Grand Jury and an indictment. Where is New York’s version of Ronnie Earle - the prosecutor who is so in love with indictments, he twice indicted himself? Why isn’t Rangel in trouble for not paying taxes. Rest assured you would be!

I guess that Democrats who think they are above the law, are immune to the premise put forward just recently by Joe Biden that not even Presidents are above the law. No Joe, just Democrats. Slick Willy should be in prison for lying to federal agents in a deposition - but he isn’t. Scooter Libby was sentenced to prison for less. So it is obvious that if you have a ‘D’ next to your name, the law does not apply to you.