Rangel Also Owes U.S. Back Taxes on Rental of Island Villa, His Lawyer Says

Representative Charles B. Rangel, chairman of the Congressional committee that writes the nation’s tax code, failed to pay an unspecified amount in federal taxes during the past five years on rental income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Mr. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat who is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, has owned the beachfront house at the Punta Cana resort and club since 1988, but never declared the $75,000 in rental income he has earned either on his tax returns or on his Congressional financial disclosure form.

When Mr. Rangel’s legal advisers first acknowledged the unreported income last week, during interviews with reporters, they said his accountants had determined that he would probably owe back taxes to the city and New York State, but not the federal government.

Read more: (David Kocieniewski, “Rangel Also Owes U.S. Back Taxes on Rental of Island Villa, His Lawyer Says,” The New York Times, 9/10/08)