Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) is a lawyer. He is not only a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, but he is the chairman. The Ways and Means Committee is responsible for all federal tax policy. One might hope that the man in charge of writing the nation’s tax policy does his own taxes. He doesn’t. After it was exposed that Mr. Rangel failed to pay thousands of dollars in taxes on over $75,000 in income from a beach house in the Dominican Republic, Mr. Rangel’s lawyer told reporters that Rangel’s wife handled the family finances. But that wasn’t even the best excuse Rangel used to explain why he failed to follow the very tax laws he helped write. Other highlights from Rangel’s beach house press conference include:
“I personally feel I have done nothing morally wrong.”
“I never had any idea that I got any income.”
and our favorite:
“Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish.”
Maybe instead of pushing for higher rates and a much more complicated tax code, the left ought to consider lower rates, a broader tax base, a simpler tax code, and possibly even a flat tax.
