Daily Outrage: Ways and Means Committee chair had $4 million unreported income
Examiner Editorial
August 28, 2009
WHO: New York City Congressman Charles Rangel
WHAT: Newly amended financial disclosure records by Rep. Charles Rangel reveal that the powerful Harlem Democrat failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income — including up to $1 million for a 2004 building sale — on forms filed between 2002 and 2006. He also failed to reveal a staggering $3 million in business transactions during the same period.
WHAT HAPPENED: Rangel’s amended numbers show that he lowballed his reported income by as much as $70,000 in 2002, $46,000 in 2003 and $117,000 in 2006. He is also in arrears on New Jersey property taxes — for property that for more than 15 years he failed to disclose to Congress and the public.
WHAT’S BEING DONE: Members of Congress are required to disclose all their assets and outside income in order to expose possible undue influences. Rangel’s office insists he did not conceal any outside income from the IRS and is paid up on taxes. However, the embattled chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is already being probed by the House Ethics Committee over other issues.
