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From the Best News of the Year (So Far) Dept:
The famous rowhouse on C Street SE where disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford sought counseling after his affair — as did Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) after his affair — has begun paying D.C. real estate taxes, according to city officials.Several members of the House and Senate live there, renting upstairs rooms from a group apparently affiliated with the “Fellowship,” a secretive group that organizes the National Prayer Breakfast. Ensign, who recently moved out, lived in the tidy brick home. Sanford, when he was a member of Congress, used to come by for what he called “a Christian Bible study.”
The Capitol Hill house is valued at $1.8 million. The downstairs is used for meals and prayer meetings, while the upstairs houses residents that recently included three House members as well as Ensign and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)…
This summer, the tax records show, the house paid no taxes because it received an E1, or religious, exemption. …
The property now is classified “TX-Taxable” and is listed as a residential property. …
The property “went 66 percent taxable Aug. 1,” the official said, and the full taxable bill for 2010 will be $10,234. Now, maybe if the lawmakers would stop paying rent, then the property would be fully tax-exempt. Of course, then the members would be questioned about accepting free accommodations.
More from Al Kamen at WaPo.
I am happy that I was able to bring some good news. (TPM had the story before the Post).
Vince Treacy
QUOTATION;
C Street House No Longer Tax Exempt
Zachary Roth | November 17, 2009, 1:40PM
Residents of the C Street Christian fellowship house will no longer benefit from a loophole that had allowed the house’s owners to avoid paying property taxes.
Previously, the house — despite being home to numerous lawmakers — had been tax exempt, because it was classified as a church. That arrangement had allowed the building’s owner, the secretive international Christian organization The Family, to charge significantly below market rents to its residents. In recent year, Senators John Ensign (R-NV), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Reps. Zach Wamp (R-TN), Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Mike Doyle (D-PA) have all reportedly called C Street home.
Natalie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Office of Tax and Revenue for Washington D.C., told TPMmuckraker that her office inspected the house this summer. “It was determined that portions of it were being rented out for private residential purposes,” she said. As a result, the tax exempt status was partially revoked. Sixty-six percent of the value of the property is now subject to taxation.
According to online records, the total taxable assessment is $1,834,500. The building’s owner last month paid taxes of $1714.70 on the property.
A commenter using the name Vince Treacy, posting on a blog run by George Washington Law professor Jonathan Turley, noted in June that the property enjoyed tax exempt status. In a comment yesterday, he wrote:
Well, at least one complaint just happened to be filed a few months ago, by some anonymous citizen who will remain nameless “”wink, wink,” with the taxpayer hotline at the DC tax office.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/c_street_house_no_longer_tax_exempt.php
http://jonathanturley.org/2009/06/26/stimulating-sex-russ-limbaugh-blames-sanford-affair-on-obama-economic-policies/#comment-91690
D’oh! We should have known TPM would have had the story first! We’d also like to bestow the Best News of the Year (So Far) Award on this “anonymous citizen” (wink, wink).
Award accepted.
Wink.
Wink.