Rangel Pays IRS, Complains of “Guerrilla War’
Devlin Barrett, AP, September 19, 2008
Rep. Charles Rangel wrote six checks for about $10,800 in back taxes, and then penned an open letter to New Yorkers Friday, saying he has done nothing dishonorable and is the target of a GOP “guerrilla war.”
Rangel, the dean of the New York congressional delegation, has faced a string of embarrassing revelations—he didn’t pay taxes on rental income for a beach house in the Dominican Republic; he used three rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, including one for a campaign office; he used his congressional stationery to drum up private donations to a college center named after him.
He ended up writing a number of checks to cover taxes due on his 2004, 2005, and 2006 returns, related to the unreported rental income, said his chief of staff, George Dalley.
The federal government tab ended up being $4,803, according to Rangel’s accountants, while he wrote checks totaling $6,022 to New York State. The state figure includes a small percentage owed to the New York City authorities.
Penalties and interest were not included in those payments, Dalley said.
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A House ethics committee plans to investigate, and Republicans have called for the 19-term congressman to be removed from his powerful position as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. After private meetings with House Democratic leaders earlier this week, Rangel was able to keep the post.
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[Editor’s Note: An earlier story about Charles Rangel’s tax woes can be read here.]
