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BIG WHEEL BENZ THE RULES

WASHINGTON – Rep. Charles Rangel has been using a House of Representatives parking garage for years as free storage space for his old Mercedes-Benz – a violation of congressional rules and a potential new tax woe for the embattled lawmaker, The Post has learned.

The 1972 silver sedan is registered to Rangel, who is already under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and is parked in a coveted section of an indoor lot, near elevators that lead to his office.

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The car is covered with a protective tarp and has no license plates. Rangel’s registration on the vehicle expired in 2004, state records show.

House rules forbid use of the garage for long-term storage more than 45 days – and congressional aides told The Post that Rangel’s car has been sitting there for years.

Rangel today told The Post, “I told you I am not discussing that. I want to be kind and gentle — please let me be.” The veteran Harlem Democrat, who is chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, is under fire for numerous lapses.

House Republicans were quick to criticize Rangel’s latest gaffe.

“In a way, this latest revelation is symbolic of how Charlie Rangel and the Democrat-led Congress have chosen to conduct themselves. Rangel continues to openly thumb his nose at the law while remaining parked atop the most powerful committee in Congress. The ‘most ethical congress in history’ continues to embarrass itself,” NRCC Press Secretary Ken Spain said in a statement.

Rangel has asked that the House ethics panel examine his possession of four rent-regulated apartments; his tax liability stemming from his ownership of a vacation home in the Dominican Republic; and his use of House stationery to solicit donations for a “center for public service” he is launching.

A House Web site on parking regulations informs anyone with a space that, under IRS regulations, the benefit of the free parking is considered “imputed income” and must be declared to the government.

The spaces are valued by the House at $290 per month, the site says – about the monthly cost of leasing a space in a private DC-area garage.

If the car has been in that space since its license plates were surrendered four years ago, the imputed income would be nearly $5,000.

In addition to the storage issue, the vehicle – valued at roughly $10,000 to $15,000 – runs afoul of other rules set forth on the House Web site because it does not have license plates and does not display a current House parking permit.

New York State Department of Motor Vehicles records show the Mercedes, along with several other cars, is registered to Rangel at his address on West 135th Street.

The records indicate that in 2002, the registration was valid and Rangel had special Congress-issued license plates with the number 15.

His registration was suspended on the vehicle in October 2004 because it did not have valid insurance coverage, state records show. Rangel voluntarily surrendered his plates that year.

In addition to a late-model Cadillac DeVille that Rangel leases and the Mercedes in the House garage, state records show he also owns a 1989 Mercedes-Benz convertible, a 2001 Chrysler and a 1993 Ford.

Rangel’s woes first began last year, when The Post reported that he wanted permission from the Federal Election Commission to use $64,500 from his “leadership” political-action committee and campaign account to commission an elaborate portrait of himself to hang in the Ways and Means Committee room.

This summer, Rangel was hit with a series of wallops about his ethics.

It was revealed that he had four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, including one he had been using as a campaign office. He has since agreed to give up that office.

He was then hit with a flood of questions after The Post reported that he had failed to disclose in his federal filings income that he’d earned from renting out the luxury villa in the Dominican Republic, which he has owned for 20 years.

He was forced to admit that he never paid taxes on $75,000 in rental income he’d received on the property over 20 years.

He has also admitted his past two decades’ worth of returns were riddled with errors, and has hired a forensic accountant to examine them.

daphne.retter@nypost.com