'Carpetbagger' Charges Fly as Georgia GOP Senate Candidate Walker's Texas Tax Break Exposed
BRETT WILKINS For Common Dreams
Records
reviewed by the network show Walker benefited from Texas' homestead tax
exemption, shaving approximately $1,200 off his 2021 tax bill on his $3 million
home in the Dallas-Ft. Worth suburb of Westlake. The Texas Tribune reports the former NFL star is expected
to apply for the discount again this year, and would likely save about $1,500.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Walker is not the only politician getting a homestead tax break. Failed Republican candidate for RI Governor Ashley Kalus does. So did Democrat Sarah Morgenthau who lost the primary for Congressional District 2. When Charlestown Democrats proposed a $1000 Homestead Tax Credit for Charlestown's permanent residents, the CCA and its non-resident backers nearly rioted at Town Hall. Maybe the new Town Council - no longer controlled by the CCA - will finally give Charlestown taxpayers what lots of other RI towns (e.g. Narragansett, North Kingstown et al.) have. Read more about the idea HERE. - Will Collette
Reacting
to the report, incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock—who will face Walker
in a December 6 runoff after neither candidate received 50% of the vote in this
month's midterm election—asked on Twitter, "How can Herschel Walker
represent Georgians when he doesn't even claim our great state as his primary
residence?"
According to the Texas Comptroller of
Public Accounts, "only a homeowner's principal residence qualifies"
for the break.
As CNN detailed:
Questions
have swirled around Walker's residency since he actively began exploring the
possibility of a Senate run in Georgia last year, and Democrats and Republicans alike
hit Walker over the issue.
To
run for office and vote in Georgia, 15 rules, not all of
which need to be met, are considered for
establishing residency, which include where the resident takes their homestead
tax exemption and where they intend to live permanently. The U.S.
Constitution only requires a
potential senator to be an inhabitant of their state when elected.
"The
state Supreme Court said that a homestead exemption alone was not dispositive
evidence that could disqualify a candidate," Anthony Michael Kreis, a law
professor at Georgia State University, told CNN.
"At
the end of the day, this is more of a political problem than a legal one in all
likelihood... where Walker can be painted as a carpetbagger," Kreis added.
"It does call into question whether Walker's change of residency was made
in good faith."
Indeed,
comparisons with failed Republican Senate aspirant Dr. Mehmet Oz—who Democratic
U.S. Sen.-elect John Fetterman's campaign successfully framed as a New Jersey
opportunist out of touch with the Pennsylvanians he sought to represent—were
filling Twitter feeds following publication of the story.
Charles
Kuck, a professor at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, tweeted: "Herschel Walker is a liar, a
carpetbagger, and a moron. Please vote responsibly. #VoteWarnock."
