In case you missed it, last week McClatchy reported that Deborah Ross “benefited substantially from the historic tax credits she helped champion” to the tune of $267,000. What’s more, Ross was unable to say whether she paid zero state or federal taxes in some years because of the credits.
In a new development – Senator Burr challenged Ross to release her tax summaries to ascertain whether Ross’ actions in the state legislature allowed her to avoid paying taxes. In a show of transparency, Burr promised to do the same. Unsurprisingly, Deborah Ross quickly refused to release her tax summaries.
The question remains: Did Deborah Ross avoid paying state and federal income taxes because of the historic tax credits she helped champion?
In case you missed it, read more:
McClatchy: GOP senator calls on Democratic rival to reveal whether she escaped taxes some years
Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina on Wednesday called on his Democratic challenger, Deborah Ross, to release the cover sheets of her tax returns to show whether she and her husband capitalized on hefty credits for historic renovations to pay little or no state or federal taxes at times over the past decade.
“There are serious questions about whether there are years where Deborah Ross avoided paying state or federal income taxes,” Burr said in a statement. “The voters of North Carolina deserve to know if the actions Ross took as a legislator allowed her to pay little or no federal or state income taxes.
“I am calling on Deborah Ross to release her tax summaries for the years that would have been affected, when she and her husband qualified for $267,000 in tax credits.”
Burr said that if Ross obliges and releases the summary sheets, “in a show of transparency” he would make public summaries of his state and federal tax returns dating to 2004 when he first won his Senate seat. A campaign spokesman, Jesse Hunt, said Burr was speaking about the first two pages of each return.
Through a spokeswoman, Ross promptly rejected the offer. There is no evidence that Ross’ legislative actions, while a North Carolina House member from 2003 to 2013, enabled her husband to qualify for the credits from his renovation hobby.
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McClatchy reported exclusively last week that Ross and her husband, Stephen Wrinn, qualified for $267,000 in tax credits between 2006 and 2014 for Wrinn’s work in preserving historic features while renovating their colonial Raleigh home, an adjoining rental unit and a century-old mill in the Blue Ridge mountains.
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