Well, fourteen months after the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported on Senator Daschle's DC "Homestead Deduction" controversy, the Argus Leader finally reports the story under the headline "Thune: D.C. tax break shows Daschle out of touch." Better late than never, though. Excerpt:
"Republican candidate John Thune said Wednesday that Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle's participation in a tax break on housing in Washington, D.C., shows that his opponent has lost touch with South Dakota. 'It ties in to the very theme of the campaign all along,' Thune said in a phone interview from Garretson. 'Tom Daschle is a lot more about Washington than he is about South Dakota. He's willing to declare Washington his principal place of residence for a $288 tax break.' Daschle said Thune is drawing a false conclusion from inaccurate information....Their dispute centers on what is called a 'homestead deduction' for the $1.9 million home Daschle and his wife, Linda, bought in spring 2003. It became an issue within the past week as the two campaigns provided paperwork and conflicting accounts on the Daschles' application for the deduction. The local government of Washington, D.C., offers the deduction to residents who own a home and pay the city income tax. Members of Congress are exempt from the local income tax but are eligible for the deduction if their spouses do pay it. That is the case with Daschles, because Linda pays the local tax on her earnings as a Washington lobbyist. Records supplied by the Thune campaign show that Sen. Daschle signed an application for the homestead deduction on April 30, 2003. An attached list of rules from the district tax office says the property in question must be the 'principal residence' of the applicant.
The Daschles' tax bill, also attached, shows an assessment of $1,445,830, a total tax due for the year at $12,397 and a $288 homestead deduction."
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