Rep. Rangel Admits Owing IRS $5,000

Democrat Rebuffs Calls To Step Down From His Post As Chairman Of House Tax-Writing Committee

(CBS/AP)  Rep. Charles Rangel, the head of the House tax-writing committee, admitted Wednesday that he owes about $5,000 to the Internal Revenue Service for failing to report income on his returns. But Rangel, D-N.Y., asked colleagues to let the ethics committee investigate and urged Republicans to stop trying to have him removed from his post.

As House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rangel has a powerful say over tax law changes. By his own admission, he has no excuse for not reporting years worth of rental income on a beach vacation property he owns in the Dominican Republic.

"Mistakes. We all make 'em. We all have to say we're sorry, but we all don't have to attack each other," Rangel said.

House debate over the matter turned personal when he said GOP leader John Boehner, did not really have his heart in it when he and other top Republicans called for Rangel to be removed as chairman. Boehner, R-Ohio, then rose to deny that claim.

"My intent here is not to claw at my friend from New York. My intent here is to have justice and to have all of us live by the rules of the House. I'm sorry that I had to do it but I have a job to do on behalf of my colleagues," Boehner said.

The exchange capped a day on which Rangel admitted embarrassing mistakes in his personal finances but insisted they were innocent errors of omission, rather than acts of deliberate deception or greed. Those errors, he said, would be corrected in amended filings to both the IRS and the Congress.

"I really don't believe that making mistakes means that you have to give up your career," the lawmaker, who has spent nearly 38 years in Congress, said in a lengthy talk with reporters.

Rangel's total back-tax bill will likely be something approaching $10,000, after factoring in state and local levies, his lawyer said. The 78-year-old Rangel maintained that over the course of two decades, he simply did not know the details of his mortgage on the beach property, how much rent he received from it or that the rent should have been reported.

He blamed the confusion in part on language and cultural barriers with the operators of the resort. But according to The New York Times, that could be greeted with skepticism by some of his constituents since Spanish is the primary language in nearly half of the households in his district. And Rangel's own Congressional Web site can easily be translated to Spanish, reports the Times.

Rangel did say that Democratic and Republican lawmakers had stayed as guests at the beach house; he declined to name them. "As chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, I am held to a higher standard of propriety," Rangel said. Asked if he had lived up to that standard, he replied: "Of course not."

Republicans are trying to use Rangel's mistakes to show that Democrats cannot claim higher moral ground on issues of ethics and corruption. The spokesman for the House Republican campaign committee, Ken Spain, said Rangel should "go on a permanent vacation and trade his powerful committee chair in for his favorite lounge chair on the beach."

The ethics panel is examining Rangel's unusual deal for the beach villa, as well as three rent-stabilized apartments he uses in his Harlem district, and a series of letters he wrote seeking support for a New York education center named after him.

Rangel purchased the beach house in 1988 for a price of $82,750, with a down payment of $28,900 and a mortgage of $53,850. Over the next 15 years, he did not make any payments directly for the mortgage, but the managers of the resort property used rental income from the property to gradually pay down the mortgage. During all but two years of the mortgage, Rangel paid no interest on it.

His lawyers estimate he failed to report some $75,000 in rental income over a 20-year span, but that only posed a tax problem for the congressman when he sold a residence in New York City four years ago and his tax liabilities briefly changed.

The ethics committee is also set to examine how Rangel came to rent three rent-controlled units in his Harlem district, as well as his use of official congressional stationery to try to attract potential donors to a college center named after him.

[milesbrown49]

gunclinger: The uninformed are a dangerous people!! Multipy what by 20 gunclinger??? The article clearly states that his tax liabilities changed 3 years ago, and was the cause for the confusion. I guess you subscribe to that "stay the course, don''t think, don''t blink" theory. Use your head before you speak please. You are confusing the issues!!!

[milesbrown49]

You can tell its racism as everyone is referring to other "black" politicains and their woes!!! Fact is that Rangel only owes because the property he has owned for 20 years changed its tax liabilities when he sold a propety. It is an obvious mistake. With all the preasure and digging going on, it is clear that Rangel is a good honest leader. They can''t find sh it and are hanging on to this garbage. Aren''t the American people tired of these witch hunts of African American Citizens as of yet???

[mydiatribe]

Hey Charlie!
If the Return isn''t RIGHT, we must INDICT!

[hamiltongrad]

I believe him. Let''s move on.

[CharlieRangel]

The news media amazes me. Obama writes a book to tell his version of his life story--true or not. And the media accepts it as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Now Rangel the Tax Evader (NOT THE IRS) tells the press how much he owes ie $5000 and that is reported as FACT.
Elsewhere it''s been reported Rangel''s unit rents for $1000 or $2000 a night. Multiply by 20 years and you get $5k ?? HaHaHaHaHa !
Now our news makers, rather reporters, can get back to more rumors on Palin-- like what brand of toilet paper the family uses.

[babooph]

Offence will not be criminal-only the "little" people would be criminals with the same "omissions"-the tax system uses a "percentage" to justify lower income suckers being criminals for the same amount a big shot has a small "civil" payment-No class warfare though-the upper class won the war long ago.

[mommajommah]

hey charlie, just be glad your not a republican. theyda hung you .

[payasyougo]

This guy is well connected politically. They''ll go easy on him.

If it were you or me, the fine would be 10 times that and we''d be looking at jail time. Even if we were not at fault. He is.

He won''t get the treatment you and I get.

And you think congress cares about you.

[twocanpete]

So the same guy that wanted to bring back the draft, the same guy who''s always talking about how young people ''owe'' their country something has been dodging his taxes. I think I smell a hypocrite.

[lilvinnyb]

I WONDER IF HE TOLD WILLIAM JEFFERSON THAT 90,000 IN YOUR FREEZER WAS TAX EXEMPT.

[lilvinnyb]

MISTAKES??? THIS MAN IS THE HEAD OF THE COMMITTEE THAT CREATES TAX LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[briannorwood]

Rangel owes IRS $5,000 and that is supposed to be big news?

Gimme a break! Millions of Americans make mistakes each year on their tax returns (me included) and end up owing alot more in taxes and fines than $5,000.

This is small potatos!

[inketolstoy]

"During all but two years of the mortgage, Rangel paid no interest on it."


What kind of sweet deal is this? Anybody else not paying interest on their mortgage? Where is the investigation into a sweet deal like that? Oh, I forgot. We are talking about congress. Move along people, nothing to see here.

[emilypaul-2009]

This is complete BS. He should pay and a leader on tax in our Govt. My taxes preparer made and error in 06, I get letter from IRS, correct 06 fed and 06state, verify that both 07''s are wrong and proactively fix that - and both fed and state have the nerve to charge me interest and late fee''s!!!! I found the error myself - I should get a credit back for being smarter that the government!!! Take that holier than thous! Stick him.

[mwhc1]

"Mistakes. We all make ''em. We all have to say we''re sorry, but we all don''t have to attack each other," Rangel said.

what the F?!?! The IRS didnt like my sorry last year - and the mistake was on their side no less!!!!
And this scum bag makes more than most - and does less work too.