Karl Rove, meet Ken Clouse and Lynn Cohen; Ken and Lynn, meet Karl - you guys have a lot in common!
Seems to me I have heard this song before:
Rove assessed $3,400 in back taxes; voter fraud issues
By Lori Montgomery
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- Presidential adviser Karl Rove may live in Washington. But in his heart -- and for voting purposes -- he remains a Texan. Which means he is not legally entitled to the homestead-deduction and property-tax cap he's been getting on his Washington home for the past 3 ½ years.
Last week, the District of Columbia tax collector was alerted to the situation, and Rove agreed to reimburse the District for an estimated $3,400 in back taxes, city officials said.
But some Texas officials also are wondering about the place Rove calls home. . . . .
Healy said Rove will forgo the exemption and tax cap on his Washington house -- valued at more than $1.1 million -- rather than give up his status as a Texas voter. But that raises a new set of questions. . . .
Rove is now registered to vote in Kerr County, about 80 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. He and his wife, Darby, have owned property there, on the Guadalupe River, since at least 1997, according to county property records.
But as far as the locals know, the Roves have never lived in either of two tiny rental cottages Rove claims as his residence on Texas voter registration rolls. . . .
In Texas, when you register to vote where you don't actually live, the county prosecutor can come after you for voter fraud, said Elizabeth Reyes, an attorney with the elections division of the Texas Secretary of State's Office. Rove's rental cottage "doesn't sound like a residence to me because it's not a fixed place of habitation," she said.
Still, under state law, the definition of a Texan is pretty loose, Reyes said, even for voting purposes. So someone would have to file a complaint.
In the end, she said, "Questions of residency are ultimately for the court to decide."
posted by Peter Porcupine @ 10:14 PM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home