Charlie's still at it. Judging by the photo, one might wonder why he has such a robust laugh. Wait, I know. It's because he is on the way to make a bank deposit with ill-gotten money. Not really. The photo is a file photo unrelated to the two stories, The Absent-Minded Chairman and OOPs! Charlie Forgot This $1M House from The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, respectively. Both articles are dated August 28, 2009.

Not new for Rangel
Mr. Rangel isn't new to tax controversy. He was in the news early this year or late 2008 for tax issues as well. Why would he of all people fail to report income and, therefore, underpay federal income tax. Here's the reason: corruption born out of greed. All reasoning suggests Mr. Rangel is a tax evader and another politician not to be trusted.

Reasoning
Here are three good reasons for concluding, even with no proof, Mr. Rangel knew what he was doing but thought he could bamboozle the IRS and the public:

• He is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the committee that writes our tax regulations. Granted, the higher up a person, the less he or she knows about the details of almost any function. Still, as chairman of the committee, he knows enough to keep his own backyard in order.
• What about his accountant and tax attorney? Doesn't he talk to them and don't they probe the "gentleman" from New York for complete information. Or, is he the ghost of Tim Geithner? Yeah, that's it. Blame TurboTax. What the heck. Nobody will believe him whatever he says
• There is a House investigation underway against Mr. Rangel for ethics violations. The House doesn't investigate Members of Congress willy-nilly. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Take a look at Wikipedia for the Rangel lowdown. If true, it speaks volumes.

What can we do?
We can do plenty but nothing about Mr. Rangel. He's too far along. His character is cast in concrete. We can, however, restructure our tax code to make it almost impossible for the need of us good people to carry the Charlie Rangels of the country. How? Glad you asked?

It isn't a difficult concept to understand. I've explained the method pretty well in my blog Bye-Bye to the Internal Revenue (Dis)Service. As stated in the blog, there are plenty of valid reasons for ditching the income tax in favor of a sales tax. But, most of us know it won't happen. It won't happen because the income tax system, with its credits and deductions plus all the other adjustments, is the best we have for doing the worst - redistributing the wealth. It's the perfect tool for the Obama mindset.

Back to Mr. Rangel
No doubt about it, the man is in it for himself. His motto must be: I'll get mine, you get yours. Little wonder he laughs. He has us where he wants us. He will be back election after election.

He has represented New York's 15th district since 1971. His death is all that will stop him from keeping his seat. Those 15th district people like him. He's a crook but he's their crook so, I guess, that makes it OK.