According to Newsweek magazine, the McCains failed to pay property taxes on a condo they own in La Jolla, California for four years. Notified of this by Newsweek, the McCains paid (yesterday) for the last four years, but are still late in their payments for this year.
UPDATE: The location of the condo in question was posted to The Jed Report. From there, it is a simple exercise to find the building, and then look it up on Zillow. Here it is. Zillow lists the property taxes for 2007 as $11,229 — note that this is a unit in the same complex, and may not be the same unit owned by the McCains. But the Newsweek article says that the total unpaid taxes for the last four years are $6,744.42, with another $1,742 owed for 2008. Am I missing something? Why are the McCains paying around 15% of normal taxes?
UPDATE2: As people have pointed out, due to Proposition 13, property taxes in California are based on the purchase price of the property, not the current value. The McCains simply must have purchased the condo from the Spanish before California became part of the USA. But seriously, does someone know the exact unit owned by the McCains, so we can look up its purchase date and price?
2 Comments
If they bought it at a much lower price, by the rules of Prop 13, they may owe much lower taxes than more recent buyers do. Taxes are based on the purchase price, not the value of the property.
Why don’t you be fair for a change. You go after Cindy McCain who holds no official position but what about Rangel and his non-payment of taxes on his property. He is A SITTING CONGRESSMAN.
This is the reason I would never read your magazine.