Sen. Claire McCaskill is selling the personal plane that has caused her turbulence in recent weeks after POLITICO revealed she used taxpayer money to cover the cost of political travel.
The first-term Democrat said she was very happy she was able to convince her husband to "sell the damn plane."
In a conference call Monday afternoon, McCaskill revealed that after her own review of the plane's records, she had not paid personal property taxes on the aircraft over the past four years.
"I have discovered that the personal property taxes on the plane have not been paid. There should have been a reporting to the county of the existence of this plane. There are people I could blame for this, but I know better. I take full responsibility," McCaskill said to reporters, after revealing she had conducted her own audit of all 89 flights she had taken.
"This was a mistake, It should have been reported in Missouri. It will be paid in Missouri today," she said.
McCaskill said she would be sending a check for $287,273 to St. Louis County Monday for the back taxes she owed between 2007 and 2010. She also said she had campaign lawyers looking into the flights to determine if any more in-kind contributions needed to be reported to be in compliance.
Asked if this would hurt her reelection bid, McCaskill replied, "I don't know, I've tried to handle this like I handle anything else," citing her advocacy for transparency and accountability in Congress.
McCaskill expressed remorse and contrition throughout the half hour conference call and said the entire episode has made her "sick to her stomach."
But she stressed that she was not trying to evade taxes and that the failure to register the plane in Missouri was a "mistake."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0311/McCaskill_will_sell_the_damn_plane.html
No comments:
Post a Comment