UPDATE: The Iowa Republican (citing Steve King’s office) says the D.C. Property Tax Office admitted they made a mistake in this case. I didn’t see a link to any official notice of the correction from the D.C. tax office and will be looking for confirmation of that.
SECOND UPDATE: From The Des Moines Register:
A clerical mistake by the property tax administration in Washington, D.C., allowed U.S. Rep. Steve King to receive a tax credit intended for people whose district property serves as their permanent residence, the agency’s director said Thursday. […]
“Although you never applied for the benefit or the tax cap, the (Office of Tax and Revenue) applied the deduction to the property when the deed was recorded,” Richie McKeithen’s letter states.
The error may have occurred by someone inadvertently transferring the tax credit claimed by the previous owner to King when he bought the home in 2005.
King spokesman Matt Lahr said King would pay the back taxes. The letter stated that the credit had been removed and that the agency would notify King of the amount due within a week.
I’m glad to hear that Congressman King will pay the full amount of property taxes he owes to the District of Columbia.
Iowa Independent noticed an article in Roll Call about four members of Congress (all House Republicans) who “appear to be improperly receiving the Washington, D.C., homestead tax deduction, reducing their annual property tax bills by hundreds of dollars and potentially much more over the long term.” Wouldn’t you know, Iowa’s own Congressman Steve King is one of the apparent tax cheats.
Roll Call is available by subscription only, but Iowa Independent has the relevant details:
The exemption allows people who own homes in Washington, D.C., to receive a $67,500 reduction on the assessed value of their home. The deduction also caps increases on the assessed value of homes at 10 percent above the previous year’s tax assessment. It is not supposed to be available to those who claim residency in another state even if they have a home in the District.
If Congressman King wants to change his official residence from Kiron to the District of Columbia, that’s fine with me. But more likely he’ll keep trying to have it both ways, paying less than his fair share of D.C. property taxes, unless the local media in Iowa’s fifth district pick up on this story.
Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania got caught a few years back claiming a homestead exclusion for a house he did not occupy. Some conservative heroes have a funny sense of “personal responsibility.”
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