Texas Democrats filed an ethics complaint against Governor Rick Perry this week. The complaint alleges that Rick Perry claimed a homestead exemption on a home he never lived in, and that he failed to report approximately $202,000 in debt on a home he purchased in College Station, TX.
We've all heard about Perry's fancy rental mansion, so we know exactly how long he's lived there and how much he's spent on it (it's just at half a million dollars right now). Now, while living in the rental mansion he claimed a homestead tax exemption on a home he purchased in College Station, TX.
Here is the bit that the regular folk have to comply with to receive the tax exemption:
GENERAL RESIDENCE EXEMPTION:You qualify for this exemption if (1) you owned this property on January 1; (2) you occupied it as your principal residence on January 1; and (3) you or your spouse have not claimed a residence homestead exemption on any other property.
It's quite obvious that his primary residence was the governor's mansion. It's like when Oprah gives you a car - you get the car, but you still have to pay the taxes. Perry gets a $10,000 per month resort but that means he loses his homestead exemption and has to pay taxes on his house. Seems to balance out to me.
There is one "loophole" I'd be more than willing to give the governor and grant him his homestead exemption, however.
"If you temporarily move away from your home, you still can qualify for an exemption if you don't establish another principal residence and you intend to return in a period of less than two (2) years."
Obviously, he didn't intend to return in 2 years, or he wouldn't be running for re-election, right?
In case you were wondering, Bill White has promised to live in his own home while the governor's mansion is reconstructed, costing the taxpayers nothing.
It's times like this I wish I ran things in this state. I'd tell slick Rick that if he drops his bid for governor and returns to his primary residence, we'd be happy to grant him his homestead exemption.
I'll second that. Let's make the vote unanimous.
I'm good with that. Do you need a "second" to that motion?
I thought I was being quite charitable with the offer to give him his homestead exemption back...if he moved back into his house because he was no longer our governor :)
Lastly, I think we need to give Perry a break since, with the loss of the "Trans-Texas Corridor Toll Road" he's lost a million$$ in kick backs and campaign contributions. Not to mention the money he was gonna get from the HPV Virus immunizations for young girls. He and Merck Pharmaceuticals took a big hit on that one.
Now that's not really fair. It's not like Perry moved into that "rental mansion" on his own initiative. His other house burned down. It's not like you can put the Governor of Texas in a FEMA trailer. Not even a "double wide". And we all know how rare and expensive rental property is in the state capitol.
Now, the "homestead exemption".....that's kinda tricky. In all honesty, if it were ME, I would expect the state to continue MY homestead exemption for MY home whilst I was serving as governor. So I don't begrudge him that irrespective of the law.
Ethics? Gov. Goodhair couldn't spell the word if you spotted him the "E", "T", "H", "C" and "S".
Much less understand the meaning......