Charlie Rangel has done it again. Taxes for you but not for him!

The New York Post has once again caught Charlie Rangel playing tax games on residences. You may recall the scandal before the election about Rangel's vacation residence in the Dominican Republic that he didn't bother to declared on his tax return. Or his use of two rent stabilized apartments for himself and his campaign offices. And now this:

Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel took a "homestead" tax break on a Washington, DC, house for years while simultaneously occupying multiple rent-stabilized apartments in New York City, possibly violating laws and regulations in both cases.

You may ask, what is wrong with that?

The situation raises a number of potential problems for the congressman, including:

* New York City law requires that tenants use rent-stabilized apartments as their primary residence.

* DC's real Property Homestead Deduction Act also requires that a property receiving the benefit be a primary residence.

* Tax lawyers told The Post that a property owner cannot have two primary residences - or take advantages provided to primary residences at two different addresses simultaneously.

* DC's law also requires that the owner of a property benefiting from the tax break be a personal-income taxpayer in DC. District law exempts members of Congress from paying personal DC income tax, but they must pay property tax.

The real issue is so much deeper than this newly reported story. This mean is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. This committee is responsible for setting tax policy. And this is the third time in three months that Charlie Rangel has had serious allegations brought up accusing him of at least an ethical violation and at worst a crime. If it were you or I, we would be in handcuffs.

And worse than this, Nancy Pelosi has not seen fit to even reprimand Rangel. It is frankly the kind of corruption the Democrats have perpetuated for some time with a public too dense to hold them to account. Rangel has crossed the line and is actively subverting exactly the tax policy he wants applied to you. He is a criminal.

Read the entire Post story here.

Corzine and pay-to-play - does he inclued NJEA and other unions?

Governor Corzine wants to eliminate pay-to-play. And we believe him. From Bloomberg:

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine proposed an overhaul of ethics guidelines covering local and state politicians, a package he said would end ``pay-to-play'' politics at all levels of government.

Corzine signed executive orders banning political campaign contributions by state-hired developers and their consultants and restricting donors from getting government contracts. He also called for several ethics measures requiring legislation, including lowering the annual limit on contributions to political committees.

``We are finishing what we've started, to end the insider deals, influence peddling and self-interest of old politics,'' Corzine, a first-term Democrat, said today in Trenton.

In keeping with our faith in Corzine, I wonder if he is including not just developers and infrastructure vendors, what about the NJEA? They are the largest contributor to all politicians in NJ per pay to play. And if you don't think they get their money's worth, check the budget.

Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein and Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, both Democrats, said today they would sponsor legislation to enact the ethics plan.

``This is the opportunity New Jerseyans have long been waiting for,'' Greenstein, of Monroe, said in a statement. ``The sinister mix of money and politics will be tackled once and for all, and it will be done so in a sweeping and historic way.''

This is kind of wierd. Apparently, Wayne DeAngelo doesn't do anything without Greenstien. Is she his muse or his babysitter? I also wonder if Mr DeAngelo intends to include his electrical workers union in the pay to play law. I somehow don't think so.

Read the entire article here.