Sunday, June 29, 2008

McCains Defaulted On Home Taxes For Last Four Years, Newsweek Reports

HuffingtonPost.com: Newsweek is set to publish a highly embarrassing report on Sen. John McCain, revealing that the McCains have failed to pay taxes on their beach-front condo in La Jolla, California, for the last four years and are currently in default, The Huffington Post has learned.
Under California law, once a residential property is in default for five years, it can be sold at a tax sale to recover the unpaid taxes for the taxpayers.
The McCains own at least seven homes through a variety of trusts and corporations controlled by Cindy McCain.
UPDATE: Newsweek's story is now online. The report notes that the McCains paid the bulk of their back taxes yesterday, but continue to owe additional taxes:
When you're poor, it can be hard to pay the bills. When you're rich, it's hard to keep track of all the bills that need paying. It's a lesson Cindy McCain learned the hard way when NEWSWEEK raised questions about an overdue property-tax bill on a La Jolla, Calif., property owned by a trust that she oversees. Mrs. McCain is a beer heiress with an estimated $100 million fortune and, along with her husband, she owns at least seven properties, including condos in California and Arizona. [...]
Shortly after NEWSWEEK inquired about the matter, the McCain aide e-mailed a receipt dated Friday, June 27, confirming payment by the trust to San Diego County in the amount of $6,744.42. County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: "The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due."
Joe Sudbay (DC), AmericaBlog.com: McCain's friends in the traditional media will surely give him yet another pass on this. And, why not? McCain obviously has some great houses to which he can invite his media pals. But, just for a second, imagine the furor if Barack Obama didn't pay his property taxes.
Logan Murphy, Crooks and Liars: This situation has nothing to do with the ongoing mortgage foreclosure crisis brought on by 8 years of Republican rule and deregulation, this is about a real failure of personal responsibility on the part of the McCains. I realize that they live an elite life of luxury and privilege and have more money and assets than 99% of Americans will ever know in their lifetime, but this is ridiculous. They didn’t pay the taxes on this home for four years. Don’t they pay people to pay their bills for them? Is this representative of the way John McCain will run OUR budgets? No matter how much cash they have or how many vacation homes they have to keep track of, it pales in comparison to running the U.S. economy. What a huge embarrassment for the GOP candidate and his party.

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