Sherrod Brown: ‘It’s a Pretty Common Practice’ to Improperly Claim Multiple Tax Credits

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Conventi
AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) responded to a report that revealed he improperly claimed multiple tax credits by saying that “It’s a pretty common practice.”

Brown, who is running for reelection in a red state, claimed two owner-occupancy tax credits — which potentially violates Buckeye State rules for such incentives, NBC News reported on Tuesday. Additionally, he and his wife have habitually paid their property taxes late.

When asked about the report on Wednesday by Spectrum News’s Taylor Popielarz, the Buckeye State Democrat claimed, “It’s a pretty common practice, but once we learned about it, we fixed it.”

Responding to paying the tax bill for his Cleveland residence late at least seven times since purchasing it in 2013, Brown said, “We’ve paid all of our taxes. Every cent we owe, and we will continue too.” When pressed on why he has been late on it so many times, he added, “It was an oversight…we’ve paid all of our taxes. Period.”

Popielarz also noted that this isn’t the first time Brown has claimed multiple tax credits, pointing to delinquencies on his Washington, DC, apartment that were reported during his 2012 reelection campaign. At the time, Brown also claimed that “It won’t happen again.”

Watch:

The NBC News report on Tuesday revealed that Brown had improperly been claiming multiple tax credits on two homes, including one he does not use as his primary residence, in addition to making a habit of paying his property taxes late. Officials who spoke to NBC News emphasized that to use the tax credit twice, as it is only intended to be used once for the primary residence, a married couple would need to demonstrate somehow that they live separately.

His campaign told NBC News that he paid his February tax bill this week, including the penalty, and repaid Franklin County the occupancy credits he should not have received for his condo in Columbus. The campaign also claimed he would no longer accept the tax credit for the Columbus property.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.

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