Rangel should step down
Committee chairman’s tax problems conflict with his policy influence
Charlie Rangel says he won’t step down as chairman of a powerful congressional committee, but he needs to. He is an effective congressman and, heretofore, a credit to his party and this state, but there are too many skeletons rattling around in his closet just now for him to continue as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
His situation is nearly untenable. He leads the House tax-writing committee, yet he acknowledges that he failed to report about $75,000 in rental income on his beach house in the Dominican Republic. He owes about $5,000 to the IRS in back taxes on that income and somewhat less in state and local taxes. Rangel also says he did not know he received a no-interest mortgage from the developers of the Dominican resort. In addition, financial discrepancies have turned up in disclosure documents he has filed.
It’s all too much for a congressman with such influence over federal tax policy. Indeed, were Republicans still in the majority, Rangel and his compatriots would be clamoring for the head of a committee chairman with these problems — as GOP critics are calling for Rangel’s.
It’s possible that Rangel’s difficulties are just what he says they are: the products of unintentional oversights. He says he will hire a forensic accounting firm to independently review his finances and issue a report to the House Ethics Committee, which is scrutinizing Rangel’s finances.
That’s a promising development. If Rangel’s problems are no worse than that, he could be able to resume his duties as the chairman of Ways and Means. Until then, though, he should do the right thing and step aside pending the outcome of the review.
