UNrEPUBLICAN:

Rahm Emanuel's basement room lights up the blogosphere: Is the Obama chief of staff's rent-free lodging in the home of a pollster friend and his congresswoman wife a gift or income or neither? What of the tax liability? Republicans and tax experts debate. (Andrew Zajac, February 24, 2009, LA Times)

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's Washington lodging arrangements, a rent-free basement room in a Capitol Hill home owned by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn) and her pollster husband, have inspired debate among tax experts and in Republican-leaning portions of the blogosphere.

One issue is whether Emanuel, who served in the House with DeLauro until early January, should have listed the room either as a gift or as income on his Congressional financial disclosure forms. Emanuel's disclosure filings contain no mention of his use of the room.

A murkier question is whether Emanuel has a tax liability for the arrangement. The matter may have particular sensitivity in the early days of an Obama administration in which at least four picks for high posts have had confirmations delayed or derailed by tax irregularities. [...]

Jan Baran, a Washington ethics lawyer who advises mostly Republicans, said Emanuel's use of the room from DeLauro and Greenberg does not violate House ethics rules because members clearly are allowed to give each other gifts of lodging. [...]

Joseph Dodge, a professor at Florida State University College of Law, argued that the room is not subject to tax either as a gift or as income.

It's not a gift because it doesn't effectively cost DeLauro and Greenberg anything, Dodge said.

"effectively"? So if the president of Exxon isn't using his Redskins box seats can he give them to Emmanuel and neither report it since it effectively didn't cost anything?

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 24, 2009 3:22 PM