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It’s been a taxing few days for Kuster, Caron

By Staff | Feb 13, 2013

One of the major responsibilities of an elected official is to vote for projects or legislation that have the real potential to raise someone’s taxes on the federal, state, county or local levels.

Inherent in that vote is an expectation that the individuals casting those votes will share in any corresponding costs with the people they represent.

But what if the officials in question have a history of either not paying or being unable to pay their taxes on time like the rest of their constituents? Is that fair? Do they owe the public a detailed explanation? And what does it say about their fitness for public office in the first place?

These are just a few of the questions that came to mind this week in the wake of reports that two elected officials – as well as a third heading a state political party – fell behind on tax payments.

That two of them promptly paid them off after being called out by the media raises even more troubling questions about why they didn’t do so sooner.

On Tuesday, The Telegraph reported that Ward 7 Alderman June Caron was among the roughly 1,300 Nashua property owners who had not yet paid their 2012 property tax bills, which were due Dec. 17.

But after being contacted by a Telegraph reporter Monday morning for a story, Caron quickly paid the bill on her Montgomery Avenue home in full – $5,100 plus $229 in interest for being late – by that afternoon. Caron blamed the delay on major surgery last fall and the physical therapy that followed.

A more egregious case came to light a week earlier, when WMUR-TV reported that U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, fresh off her November victory over Republican incumbent Charles Bass, was late in paying nearly $11,000 in property taxes on her private residence in Hopkinton and her vacation home in Jackson.

Some 18 hours after the story broke, Kuster – whose family’s assets are estimated at $1.8 million – announced that both tax bills would be paid by the end of the day. While she apologized, there was no explanation offered on why she had been late paying her property taxes six times dating to 2010.

And last month, prior to being elected chairwoman of the Republican State Committee, Jennifer Horn came under attack by her opponent for owing the Internal Revenue Service thousands of dollars in unpaid federal income taxes. The IRS placed two tax liens against her Nashua home in 2011 over the failure to pay $92,000 in taxes in 2008 and 2009.

Now there is a significant difference between choosing not to pay taxes on time and being unable to pay taxes on time, which is what makes the Kuster and Caron situations more troubling.

Chances are that if WMUR-TV or The Telegraph had not reported this information, Kuster and Caron still would be in arrears on their obligation to pay property taxes to their respective municipalities.

This shouldn’t be complicated. If you are planning to run for public office, either pay your taxes on time or explain to voters in advance why you are not able to do so. Let them decide whether that’s a deal-breaker when they go to the polls on Election Day.

But to have the money available and decide not to pay your taxes on time – as Kuster and Caron aptly demonstrated – just feeds the growing disconnect between our elected officials and the people who put them into office.

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