Jill Holtzman-Vogel and her family own two homes. One is in Upperville, the other is in Washington DC. She has been receiving a "homestead" tax break on the DC condo she owns since 2005, but that tax break is only available if the property is the taxpayer's primary residence.
Since 2005, city records show Jill Holtzman Vogel (R) and her husband have received a homestead deduction on the property taxes they pay on a condominium they own near Washington Circle. To get the $60,000 annual deduction, the owner must declare the home as their primary residence. - The Washington PostJill Holtzman-Vogel is capable of filing detailed campaign finance reports, but claims to be unaware of a tax break claimed on her taxes. It is interesting to note that candidate Holtzman-Vogel received a $60,000 tax deduction even as her family self-financed $84,000 of her state senate campaign.
The couple paid $995,000 for the condominium at The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton in November 2005. It was a place to sleep occasionally instead of commuting back to Upperville every night, he [Alex Vogel, Jill's husband -P13] said. Vogel said he gets a tax statement from the D.C. government in the mail, but that he doesn’t look at it. He said he just files it. The mortgage company pays the property taxes.It's interesting to note that Holtzman-Vogel's solution to our traffic problems was just to buy another home closer to where she'd like to be: Washington DC. It's unfortunate that most of her prospective constituents do not have the option of just buying a million-dollar condo in Washington DC to make the commute a little bit easier.
Giving candidate Holtzman-Vogel the benefit of the doubt, perhaps she was simply ignorant of the niceties of law, taxes and financing.
Jill currently has a nationally recognized law practice in Warrenton, counseling non-profits, corporations, and other clients on tax exempt regulations, ethics rules, corporate law and campaign finance. - "Jill Vogel for Senate" websiteThen again, maybe she should have known (or did know) exactly what she was doing. Either way, she should not represent the 27th District in the state senate.
1 comment:
The Wash Post is up with their correction - they owe her an apology - that was bs journalism and they got it totally wrong:
D.C. Takes Blame for Va. Candidate's Tax Break
By Sandhya Somashekhar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 10, 2007; 6:06 PM
D.C. tax officials said today it was their fault that a state Senate candidate from Virginia got an improper tax break on her Washington Circle condominium.
The candidate, Jill Holtzman Vogel (R), and her husband never applied for the city's homestead deduction, said Natalie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Office of Tax and Revenue.
Wilson said the previous owner of the condominium was getting the deduction and the tax department incorrectly grandfathered the deduction after the Vogels bought the property. Earlier in the week, the tax office declined to discuss individual taxpayer cases.
"We did make a mistake," Wilson said. "I would like to acknowledge we gave the credit in error."
The tax benefit allows homeowners to cut $60,000 off the value of their home when calculating their property taxes. Homeowners are allowed to take the deduction only for their primary residence.
Vogel and her husband, Alex Vogel, live in Upperville, where she is running for office in the 27th District. Alex Vogel, a GOP strategist, said he stays in the condominium a couple of days a week when Congress is in session.
Vogel is in a tight race with Karen Schultz (D), a professor at Shenandoah University. Along with independent Donald Marro, they are hoping to succeed retiring Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. (R-Winchester).
As reported in today's Washington Post, the Vogels had been receiving the deduction since they bought the condominium at the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton in November 2005. They said Monday that they had no idea why they were getting the tax break and that they had never applied for it.
District officials had said that sometimes a third party, such as the company handling the settlement of a home, will fill out the form required to get the deduction. They added that the homeowner must sign it to get the credit, though today they acknowledged that they never received such a form from the Vogels.
Alex Vogel said today that he was relieved and that he was planning to return the money to the tax office. He produced a document from the real estate closing that indicated he and his wife had not applied for the tax credit.
"I'm glad that D.C. acknowledged the error," he said. "I was confident we did everything we were supposed to, and I'm glad D.C. has confirmed it."
About 90,000 District property owners receive the homestead deduction, which is designed to make homeownership more affordable, Wilson said.
Last year, an inspector general's audit showed that the city was losing as much as $3.4 million a year because of owners improperly taking the exemption. The Office of Tax and Revenue is undertaking an audit to weed out violators, some of whom are receiving the benefit unknowingly.
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