Senator Carl Levin: Congressman Charlie Rangel is a Free Loader

US Senator Carl Levin called Congressman Charlie Rangel a Free Loader for his evasion of taxes. OK, so he did not call him out by name. But it is hard to see how Congressman Rangel wouldn't fit in the group that Senator Levin is talking about:

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization. Those who seek to avoid their tax obligations are not just free loaders, they are weakening that civilization. But if we take the right steps, together across the globe, we can finally end the scourge of offshore tax abuse. - Senator Carl Levin at the Conference on Increasing Transparency in Global Finance - Press Release

Really Senator? How about cleaning out Congress first. Tax abuse is the same no matter the way the do it.

Just as a reminder, here is a summary of what Congressman (tax cheat, free loader and Civilization killer) Charles Rangel has been up to:

Last week, we learned that Rangel filed a grossly misleading financial disclosure report for 2007 -- failing to report at least half a million dollars in assets.

It turns out Rangel had a credit union account worth at least $250,000 and maybe as much as $500,000 -- and didn't report it. He had investment accounts worth about the same, which he also didn't report. Ditto for three pieces of property in New Jersey.

Beyond that, we've learned that Rangel has failed to report assets totaling more than $1 million on legally required financial disclosure forms going back to at least 2001.

The news comes on top of revelations last year that Rangel didn't report -- and didn't pay taxes on -- income from a villa in the Caribbean. In that matter, the Internal Revenue Service gave him sweetheart treatment; Rangel paid about $10,000 in back taxes but was not required to pay any penalty or interest. - Washington Examiner

As far as we know, Congressman Rangel has not hidden his assets offshore. He instead hid them in plain sight, where theoretically the Government could have caught his omissions over the year, but opted not to.

Congress is bankrupt on this subject as long as they ignore the massive tax evasion (and corruption) by its own members not to mention by the member of Government that they approve, right up to the Treasury Secretary.

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