Hi, my name is Tina Houghton, and I don’t pay my taxes.
In ousting 16-year Lansing City Council veteran Sandy Allen, newcomer Tina Houghton forgot two things. First, she apparently forgot to pay her $3300 in property taxes and, second, she forgot to tell her constituents. Legally, she did not have to say anything, even though every candidate for elected office in Lansing must sign an affidavit attesting that they are not in default to the City at the time for any financial obligations including property taxes. (See her May 12 affidavit here.) So what’s the truth?
It depends on who you ask. Due to a loophole, Houghton, when she signed that statement, was telling the truth. But was it the whole truth and ethically should she have said something? She did not owe the City for property taxes at the time, although she would later fail to pay her summer taxes. But here’s where it gets real sticky: The key word is City. Houghton also owes 2008 taxes on her Lansing home, but collection of those taxes had been routinely turned over to Ingham County on March 1, 2009 so technically she owed the County for back taxes and not the City. Talk about splitting hairs.
Does this sound like a Dick Cheney explanation? Was Houghton aware of the loophole and prepared for that question on the affidavit? Did she have any qualms answering the way she did? Did she ever feel she needed to add any additional information? Did she know the County actually owned her tax debt? Did she think about what Virg Bernero would say since he had hand picked her to run against Allen? Did Virg even know she owed back taxes?
A lot must have running through her mind., but the bottom line is Houghton should have been more forthright in her dealings with the voters. They had a right to know about her tax problem. And I feel she had the obligation to tell them.
Mayor Bernero became complicit in this misdirection by not vetting his hand-chosen candidate more carefully. On election eve morning, Mayor Virg Bernero was predicting Houghton’s runaway victory, bragging to a local radio station host about his support and the work his campaign had done on her behalf. You wonder how fast that support would’ve disappeared if it had become known Houghton had not paid her taxes. Will he be as supportive of her now?
Local political consultant Bernie Porn once told me that he routinely asked potential political candidates about such embarrassing things as tax liability or criminal record. He said after he asked the question he would tell them politely that he would be checking.
How in this day of internet search capability Houghton could get through the entire election cycle without the opposition uncovering this outrage is beyond me. The ad would have been great: “Hi I’m Tina Houghton and I don’t pay my property taxes.”
More importantly, how Houghton could go through the election without fessing up is way beyond me. My high school religion teacher would’ve lectured her about sins of commission versus sins of omission and would’ve whacked her on the knuckles and told her to go to confession.
When it became public after the election that Houghton owed back taxes on her property she ran to high ground and defended her miscue by wrapping herself in a “those people” spin meaning she would represent people like her who are in a difficult economic position. I’m not against that, but I’m not sure the voters would’ve agreed if they had known about her tax history and her 10 point margin may have disappeared if anyone had done their job. Houghton still must pay her summer 2009 taxes to the City prior to taking office and ultimately she will want to pay her property taxes to the County or she might find out what a Sherriff’s sale is all about. In the meantime, she needs to do some penance and tell her constituents she is sorry.
I hear ya, but things are pretty crazy right now for a lot of people. She’s got a nice family, good kids, and is trying to do something good for the city. Maybe she’ll be able to pay the bills now that the city is paying her the big bucks for being on city council. Just kidding.
Let’s be a little more open-minded and forgiving when it comes to things like this happening to non-career politicians. She’s no Ted Stevens or Chris Dodd… She’s our neighbor.
She should resign before taking office; she chose how to spend money instead of paying taxes: travel, family vacations with the Bernero family, kids sporting activities, etc. She wasn’t “struggling” she was “juggling” and dropped the tax ball.
This is an outstanding article. Thanks for writing it. I think folks should have been informed about this during the election season. Unfortunately, it didn’t get out there. Not that Ms. Houghton doesn’t deserve to be 2nd Ward council member, in fact, although I am a big fan of Sandy Allen, I think it’s very cool for Lansing to have four young working moms on City Council (Kathie Dunbar, Jessica Yorko, A’Lynn Robinson, and Tina). However, I think all of 2nd Ward needed to be informed of this. It could have affected many people’s voting choice.
I understand Joe’s comment above as well, but I have a different take. We might not have a council full of career politicians but I don’t think that’s a reason to ask for anything less in our leaders. In fact, that kind of thinking might be part of Lansing’s problem. Politics in Lansing shouldn’t be looked at as amateur hour and Lansing’s citizens shouldn’t look the other way just because a council member is or isn’t a career politician.
How is the mayor responsible for her actions or lack thereof? That’s a bit of a stretch isn’t it? Sounds to me this is more of a case of the media dropping the ball and looking for someone to blame.
Hold on folks. Tina has not been sworn in as a city council person yet. Back in the 90′s Belinda Fitzpatrick tried to get her name on the ballot to run as a first ward candidate against Harold Leeman. She was denied even to have her name on the ballot because she owed back taxes. You must understand that if you don’t pay your city taxes on time , they are turned over to the county to be collected. Belinda said she did not owe the city, but owed the county so she could not being in default to the city…Judge Carolyn Stell ruled against her. ..End of story. The difference is that Belinda told the truth and Tina lied . Tina made a bad choice, and if she is allowed to be on council, she has already branded herself as a first class liar.
Tina should never have been seated on the Park Board as she was in default to the city in Nov. 2007 when she was appointed by Bernero. Not much new in Bernero’s crooked game plan; just repeats of earlier illegal moves.
[...] Detroit is not the only place with law-breaking politicians, Lansing’s councilperson-elect Tina Houghton owes $3,300 in back taxes but signed an affidavit saying she didn’t owe the city anything. She signed the affidavit in [...]