Rove Not Entitled to D.C. Homestead Deduction (Pays Back Taxes)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202397.html

Presidential adviser Karl Rove may live in Washington. But in his heart -- and for voting purposes -- he remains a Texan. Which means he is not legally entitled to the homestead deduction and property tax cap he's been getting on his Palisades home for the past 3 1/2 years.

This week, the D.C. tax collector was alerted to the problem. And Rove agreed to reimburse the District for an estimated $3,400 in back taxes, city officials said. But now some Lone Star officials also are wondering about the place Rove calls home.

A change in the law made the D.C. homestead deduction available only to District property owners who do not vote elsewhere. Karl Rove is registered to vote in Texas. (By Chip Somodevilla -- Getty Images)

In a letter released yesterday by the White House, the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue accepted blame for the error, which also has affected numerous members of Congress. The homestead exemption gives District taxpayers a substantial tax break on their primary residences. But starting in 2002, a change in the law made it available only to District property owners who do not vote elsewhere, city officials said. That made Rove, and many others, ineligible.

"OTR failed to rescind the benefit when the law changed. As a result of OTR's error, the property inadvertently received tax deductions for which you no longer qualified," chief assessor Thomas W. Branham wrote Rove. "We regret any inconvenience that this error on the part of OTR may have caused you."

Article says Rove was touring hurricane area with * yesterday.

[clydefrand]

1. He kept his butt hidden then because I watched CNN all

day and he wasn't in view of the camera.

And maybe he was voting illegally in Texas??? Maybe he just doesn't bother to vote since they know how to get the results they want anyway.

[Quetzal]

2. If anything, the Self-serving SOBs in Congress will probably

pass a law to overrule the district.

[UpInArms]

3. some more very interesting parts of that article:

Rove sold his longtime home in Austin in 2003. He was getting a homestead exemption there, too. So for three years, from 2001 until the sale, Rove was claiming homesteads in Texas and Washington, which is, technically, illegal, according to tax collectors in both cities. "Strictly speaking, you can only have one homestead," said Art Cory, chief tax appraiser in Travis County, Tex.

<snip>

Anyway, Rove is now registered to vote in Kerr County, about 80 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. He and his wife, Darby, have owned property there, on the Guadalupe River, since at least 1997, according to county property records.

But as far as the locals know, the couple have never actually lived in either of two tiny rental cottages Rove claims as his residence on Texas voter registration rolls. The largest is 814 square feet and valued by the county at about $25,000.

<snip>

Down in Texas, when you register to vote in a place where you don't actually live, the county prosecutor can come after you for voter fraud, said Elizabeth Reyes, an attorney with the elections division of the Texas Secretary of State. Rove's rental cottage "doesn't sound like a residence to me, because it's not a fixed place of habitation," she said. "If it's just property that they own, ownership doesn't make that a residence."

Now someone just needs to file a complaint about Rove and his voter fraud. :eyes:

[Spazito]

4. Something tells me Rove is no longer the 'untouchable'

he used to be, interesting.

[damntexdem]

5. Rove was tourig the hurricane destruction with Dubya?

And observers thought the stench was just due to the dead.

[belle]

6. 3,400, pfah. I was hoping they were taking him to the cleaners. Well,

hopefully this is just a warmup. burn motherfucker, BURN.

[mitchum]

7. He also lives at: 616 Crystal Creek Drive...

Austin, TX 78746
512-263-5932

and

Highway 27 (On Way Drive)
Ingram, TX 78025
830-367-3813

besides

4925 Weaver Terrace NW
Washington, DC 20016