Charlie Rangel’s getting right with the taxman.
It’s a start. But only a start.
The veteran Harlem pol on Friday dispatched $10,800 to the IRS and the state tax department, according to his office.
Not covered was rental income from his Dominican Republic villa – and heaven only knows what else.
But what the heck: The longest journeys begin with a single check, er, step.
Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee this week is expected to begin to untangle 20 years worth of Rangel’s financial records. If the committee takes its duties seriously – sadly, that can’t be assumed – the results should prove illuminating.
Meanwhile, Rangle is taking a best-defense-is-a-good-offense approach to dealing with the political problems his personal problems may be creating.
He says he’s the victim of a “guerrilla war” being waged by the Republican Party and various newspapers.
The papers, he says, have “pried into my private life and used insinuation and half-truths to write stories that sell papers – what car I drive; where I live; where I vacation with my family; and how I handle my personal finances.”
For the record, this newspaper proudly pleads guilty to having examined the congressman’s “personal finances.”
We actually started the ball rolling. And if what’s been published to date turns out to be even half true, as Rangel asserts, just imagine how fascinating the full truth is going to be.
“I’ve never violated the public trust,” he says. Which is utter nonsense.
What about Rangel’s four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem – and his admitted failure to report $75,000 in income from the Dominican villa?
Then there’s the thousands and thousands of dollars in other real-estate profits that apparently never were reported.
Yes, as noted, Rangel is writing checks.
For most private citizens, that could be enough. Pay the taxes due, pay the penalties – be done with it.
But Rangel is not a private citizen.
He chairs the House Ways & Means Committee, one of the most powerful in Congress and – most importantly – the panel that writes the tax laws that Rangel holds in such personal contempt.
“Guerrilla war?”
Nonsense.
Charlie Rangel can’t be trusted to pay the taxes he owes by virtue of the laws written by the committee he runs.
So he can’t be trusted to run the committee, either.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi must fix that problem – and fix it fast.