Massachusetts Republican Senate nominee Gabriel Gomez took advantage of a questionable income tax break in 2005, claiming a $281,500 deduction for promising not to alter the facade of his historic Cohasset, Mass., home, the Boston Globe reported Thursday. Democrats are already hoping to make the tax break an election issue.
Though federal law allows for such easements in order to protect historic buildings and homes, it’s unclear whether Gomez qualified for the easement because the local Historical Commission in Cohasset already banned changes to the facade of his house. That meant the loss of value from the restriction was likely already part of the value of the home. A Gomez spokesman defended the use of the tax break to the Globe, saying that the family’s 2005 agreement was stricter than the local zoning laws.
More from the Globe:
The Gomezes, whose 59 Highland Ave. home is located within the Cohasset Common Historic District, gave the historical easement to the National Architectural Trust, a Washington-based organization whose marketing of tax-deductible easements to homeowners has been targeted by the US Department of Justice.
Five weeks after the Gomezes claimed the deduction, the Internal Revenue Service listed programs such as this — that involve the “contribution of a historic facade easement to a tax-exempt conservation organization” — as one of its “Dirty Dozen tax scams.”
“In many cases, local historic preservation laws already prohibit alteration of the home’s facade, making the contributed easement superfluous,” the agency wrote in its annual rundown of questionable tax practices. “Even if the facade could be altered, the deduction claimed for the easement contribution may far exceed the easement’s impact on the value of the property.”
Gomez is running against Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) in the June 25 special election for John Kerry’s former Senate seat.
“Massachusetts families are frustrated by a tax system rigged with loopholes available only to corporations and the super-wealthy, exactly like the one used by Gabriel Gomez,” Andrew Zucker, press secretary for the Markey campaign, told TPM in an email. “Unlike Gabriel Gomez, who bilked taxpayers by exploiting an obscure tax scam for the super-wealthy that shaved more than $280,000 off his taxable income, Ed Markey supports ending these unfair tax schemes, closing corporate tax loopholes and leveling the playing field for Massachusetts families.”
The Massachusetts Democratic Party scheduled a conference call with reporters for 2 p.m. ET Thursday to call on Gomez to answer more questions about his tax deduction.
