By ISABEL VINCENT and MAGGIE HABERMAN
Last updated: 12:16 pm
September 6, 2008
Posted: 4:36 am
September 6, 2008
Controversial Rep. Charles Rangel, already under fire for not paying taxes on income from a beachfront villa he owns in a Dominican resort, also got an interest-free mortgage on the sun-soaked property, his lawyer revealed yesterday.
The embattled chairman of the Ways and Means Committee got the mortgage deal along with six other investors in the Caribbean resort, founded by a major campaign contributor.
His lawyer, Lanny Davis, also conceded that the Harlem Democrat didn't declare about $75,000 in rental income from his lush villa with panoramic ocean views at the Punta Cana Yacht Club.
Now, sources said, congressional Republicans are weighing whether to publicly call on Rangel to abandon his top post on the committee, which deals with tax-writing.
"Charlie Rangel is the designated leader on tax policy in the Democrat-led Congress, but while he is authoring massive tax hikes to exact on middle-class Americans, he is apparently dodging the IRS at all costs," said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The National Legal and Policy Center in Virginia urged the IRS to open a probe, saying, "NLPC believes that even the latest admissions are far from the full truth and that the amount of income not properly reported . . . is far in excess of the amount admitted."
The bombshell revelations follow an exclusive Post report last Sunday detailing how Rangel's villa is one of the hottest rentals at the resort, yet he declared no income from it in congressional filings the last two years.
The villa, which he has owned for 20 years, rents for up to $1,100 a night during the busy season.
Davis insisted Rangel, 78, won't owe federal taxes, in part because it's not a vacation home and full depreciation on the villa will apply - and also because of various tax credits that will offset anything owed.
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