Posted on 08/01/2003 6:28:27 AM PDT by defeat_the_dem_igods
U.S. Sen. John Edwards, an N.C. Democrat and presidential candidate, paid $11,000 in Washington, D.C., property taxes Thursday -- four months late and after inquiries from a newspaper.
Edwards, a multimillionaire former trial lawyer, and his wife, Elizabeth, also have been tardy paying property taxes on their house and cars in Raleigh more than 30 times over the past decade, including eight times in which they had to pay interest.
He also has paid two late bills and interest since 1989 on his property and house on Figure Eight Island, an exclusive, private island off of Wrightsville Beach.
In the case of the Washington house, the Edwardses bought a four-story home in the Georgetown area of Washington last year for nearly $4 million and planned to renovate it. Recently they said they plan to stay in the house they're renting in northwest Washington and are considering selling the Georgetown house. The $11,092 tax bill on it was due March 31 but wasn't paid until a Washington Times reporter asked about it earlier this week.
"The Edwardses never received a bill from the D.C. city government," Jennifer Palmieri, Edwards's campaign spokeswoman, said Thursday. "As soon as they got a copy of it, they paid it. The check was delivered today. He's happy to pay his share."
D.C.'s tax office likely got confused by Edwards' multiple housing deals, according to Tony Bullock, spokesman for Washington Mayor Anthony Williams.
"(Edwards) sold his house in Woodley Park, bought a house in Georgetown and moved into a third house he was renting," Bullock said. "More than likely what happened here is that the tax bill got lost in the swirl of those movements. Our tax office is pretty good but we can't guarantee that we sent the tax bill to the right address. Clearly Senator Edwards had every intention of paying his bill."
Republicans quickly contrasted Edwards' late tax payments with his campaign rhetoric about exhibiting responsibility, not creating tax breaks for the wealthy and serving as a champion for "regular people."
"Senator, those `regular people' that you claim so nobly to be running to represent pay their taxes," said Linda Daves of Charlotte, interim state GOP chair. "The hypocrisy of your words versus your actions is simply overwhelming."
The late tax payments in Raleigh, in Wake County, were on the Edwards' house in the Country Club neighborhood and several cars over the years. N.C. counties allow a grace period of a month after car taxes are due before charging interest on delinquent payments.
Most of the payments arrived a few days beyond the grace period, but the image of a millionaire paying his taxes late could be politically problematic for Edwards. He boasts of a working class empathy drawn from his mill town roots in Robbins, N.C., and regularly bashes President Bush for catering to the rich.
"We need to make sure," Edwards said in the text for a speech last November to the Fortune Global Forum, "that businesses and wealthy investors are held to the same standard as ordinary Americans when it comes to following our tax laws."
I believe we have a patriotic duty to avoid taxes to every extent possible. I file at the last minute, structure my business so that I can take advatage of every loophole, etc. But I would never pay late and endure the pernalties and interest. That is just plain lazy and stupid.
Edwards is doing himself, his family and society a disservice by pissing away his wealth to be eaten up by the least productive people in our society (ie, government bureaucrats). The capital wasted in penalties would be far more beneficial in the private sector where it could help the economy and create jobs. So one could argue that Edwards' inefficient management of capital is responsible for some measure of decreased productivity and increased unemployment.
Also, it makes one wonder what else he is inattentive to.
I know for a fact that they are not messing around as I set payment arrangements with them in the past( sales commissions exceeded more than I our co. accountant had advised). Got my Auto tax and this is incentivising me.
As said "the hits keep on coming".
With all due respect, I could not disagree more.
The "little people" have to pay taxes, and are expected to do so on time.
The issue is a moot point with respect to Edwards' dead-in-the-water Presidential campaign. But in my opinion, he just lost his Senate seat.
Remarkably nasty of the Observer (useless fishwrapper!) to print this quote. It almost makes Edwards sound like an in-your-face hypocrite!
And I don't think we're talking about "carelessness" here with their tax bills - I think they're hoping that if they don't pay, the authorities just won't bother to collect.
The home's assessed value is nearly $2 million .
I sure wish my county would let me pay taxes on about half of my property's real worth.
Assessed values are often way out of whack with the actual values. In some cases, assessments are done only once every ten years.
Its total nonsense to focus on a guy who paid his bills late. In fact I'll bet that a large majority of folks would sympathize with him.
Look, if people accept a drunk leaving the scene of an accident, they are not going to worry about someone who paid his taxes late. In fact, there are a fair number of Freepers who hate the tax man so badly he would probably get their vote.
Well, thank you.
We'll just have to agree to disagree here. Being late with tax payments thirty times marks Edwards as a serial offender. He has demonstrated contempt for the laws which his constituents, the "little people," are expected to obey. The rules don't apply to him, apparently, because he's too important.
Perhaps more important politically, his hypocrisy will be laid bare for all to see. To date, little focus has fallen upon his $4 million Georgetown home, nor upon his $1 million+ vacation home on a private island. His failure to timely pay taxes on this real estate will not play well with those who struggle to pay taxes on their doublewides, the more so because he fashions himself the champion of "working families." A "Platinum Populist" who seems to view laws as applying only to others will not play well here.
Look, if people accept a drunk leaving the scene of an accident, they are not going to worry about someone who paid his taxes late.
North Carolina isn't Massachusetts, and Edwards isn't a Kennedy. The state leans Republican, and Edwards has very little margin for error. He just made a fatal one.
And that's the extent of my "total nonsense."
If he pays the taxes, interest and the late fees how do you conclude the "rules don't apply to him" ?
The "late fee" is a penalty for non-compliance with the law. If you get caught for speeding and pay the fine, would you suggest that the fact that you paid the fine means that you didn't break the law? I'd love to see Edwards try that argument next time a reporter asks him about his tax record.
Agreed. If he was refusing to pay and had judgments then I would take notice..
If he'd had 30 traffic tickets, yes, I'd consider it a serious defect, one demonstrating contempt for the laws that we are all expected to follow. Heck, thirty parking tickets would be an issue. The question is not whether he ultimately pays the fines (whether we're talking about taxes or traffic citations); rather, it's the attitude that "I don't need to bother with details that others do."
A similar pattern in my experience comes to mind. I was a member of an organization which conducted its meetings according to Robert's Rules of Order. It was a rather large group, and a time limit was placed on "speeches" from the floor. Speaking overtime was subject to a fine, as I recall, of $5 a minute. We had one member who enjoyed the sound of his own voice, and who made a great show of peeling off $5 bill after $5 bill as he was notified that he was speaking overtime. Asked why he continued to talk overtime and pay his fines, he would always say "because I can." Now, I suppose you could argue that this guy was in compliance with the organization's rules; after all, he paid his fines on the spot. But people resent that kind of behavior. When this individual ran for president of the organization, he got clobbered.
Edwards is a serial offender, with a clear pattern of a cavalier attitude toward the law. True, he has ultimately paid his taxes, plus interest and penalties. So he may have cleared himself with respect to the law, but he'll still be seen (accurately) as a jerk.
Edwards is a serial offender, with a clear pattern of a cavalier attitude toward the law. So he would seem.
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