State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. is quoted in the NY Post saying that Congressman Joe Crowley of Queens is a hypocrite for moving his family to a suburb of DC. In addition to calling him a hypocrite, he also says "It's telling the people of the city . . . 'I'm leaving you.' "
What about in 2009 when Congressman Eliot Engel of the Bronx said his primary residence was in Potomac, Maryland, and he improperly tried to keep a tax break there by claiming to be a Marylander?
ReplyDeleteI guess that State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. would call Congressman Engel a hypocrite too!
Here's how the newspaper reported the story about Congressman Engel's residency:
The New York Times
March 14, 2009
BRONX REPRESENTATIVE LOSES A TAX BREAK
By The Associated Press
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland tax officials said that a New York representative is not entitled to a residents’ tax break on the house in a Washington suburb that he has claimed as his primary residence for at least 10 years.
The representative, Eliot Engel, calls himself a lifelong resident of the Bronx, where he rents an apartment. But he and his wife list the house in Potomac, Md., as their primary home on Maryland property tax forms.
They paid nearly $500,000 for the house in 1993, and it has almost doubled in value. The Engels have received thousands of dollars in tax credits that are reserved for people who declare Maryland their home.
The state agency made the decision on the credits late last month.
Mr. Engel, whose district includes much of the northern Bronx and parts of Westchester and Rockland Counties, is not the only politician who has been found to be improperly receiving the credit. Maryland tax officials first revoked his credit in late 2005, about the time that several elected officials representing other states were informed that they would have their credits removed.
Mr. Engel and his wife contested the loss of their Maryland primary-residence status, which was reinstated, then revoked again after Maryland laws were changed recently.
Jeremy Tomasulo, an aide to the congressman, maintains that Mr. Engel’s primary residence has always been in the Bronx.
But his property tax documents say otherwise, a claim that was worth nearly $7,000 in credits to Mr. Engel and his wife over the past four years because people in Maryland are eligible for state and county tax breaks on their primary residence
To receive the credit, homeowners must live in Maryland at least six months of the year, have a Maryland driver’s license, be registered to vote in Maryland and file Maryland income taxes.
Mr. Engel and his wife do not qualify since they both have New York licenses and vote in New York. Mr. Tomasulo said that Mr. Engel filed his income taxes in New York, and did not respond to questions about Ms. Engel’s taxes.
Aides to Mr. Engel said that he had previously responded to an inquiry by the Montgomery County Department of Finance, which said that he was eligible for an exemption.
Roberta Ward, manager of the Montgomery County office of the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, said her office handled that inquiry. She said Mr. Engel’s primary residence claim was revoked, but was reinstated after an appeal that included the submission of Maryland income tax records for his wife.
Since then, however, Maryland has tightened the eligibility requirements. Now, at least one spouse of a homeowning couple must meet all the residency requirements.
Mr. Tomasulo said Mr. Engel believed that the credit should be removed if he is not eligible.
“He will await their determination of his status and will make sure that he is in full compliance with their evaluation,” Mr. Tomasulo said in an e-mail message.
Mr. Engel was re-elected at least five times to represent the Bronx while property tax documents indicated his primary residence was in Potomac.
New York and federal laws require that representatives be inhabitants of the state they represent when they are elected.
Yeah...where was this outcry over his friends in Riverdale?
ReplyDeleteDiaz's district is at least partly within Crowley's.
ReplyDeleteYou should send the New York Times article about Engel to the reporter at the Post who's covering Crowley.
ReplyDeleteMurdoch's empire must be dismantled ... too much power in one man's hands.
ReplyDeleteCriminal charges should be brought against any newspaper executive, editor or reporter who conspired to intercept private communications.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the Queens Campaigner, a Woodside neighbor of Crowley's who asked not to be named said he sees the congressman on the block about once a month.
ReplyDeleteSo Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Eliot L. Engel are sort of like carpetbaggers?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Yesterday's Daily News, Engel is a slum lord too.
ReplyDeleteWait..last time I check..Senator Diaz doesn't live in his district either...he has an apartment there..but he lives in a nice big house outside the district...and the Borough President has a nice home upstate...talk about hypocrisy.
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