Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker getting tax break in 2022 on Texas home intended for primary residence | CNN Politics
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Republican Herschel Walker is getting a tax break intended only for a primary residence this year on his home in the Dallas, Texas, area, despite running for Senate in Georgia.
Publicly available tax records reviewed by CNN's KFile show Walker is listed to get a homestead tax exemption in Texas in 2022, saving the Senate candidate approximately $1,500 and potentially running afoul of both Texas tax rules and some Georgia rules on establishing residency for the purpose of voting or running for office.
Walker registered to vote in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2021 after living in Texas for two decades and voting infrequently. In Texas, homeowner regulations say you can only take the exemption on your "principal residence."
Walker took the tax break in 2021 and 2022 for his Texas home even after launching a bid for Senate in Georgia, an official in the Tarrant County tax assessor office told CNN's KFile. The Walker campaign did not respond to CNN's repeated requests for comment. Walker is set to face Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a runoff election in December after neither candidate earned more than 50% of the vote in November's midterm election.
Politicians in the pastin Texas have landed in hot water over improperly taking the exemption, including then-Gov. Rick Perry, and have typically agreed to pay back taxes.
Questions have swirled around Walker's residency since he actively began exploring the possibility of a Senate run in Georgia last year, and Democrats and Republicans alike hit Walker over the issue.
To run for office and vote in Georgia, 15 rules, not all of which need to be met, are considered for establishing residency, which include where the resident takes their homestead tax exemption and where they intend to live permanently. The US Constitution only requires a potential senator to be an inhabitant of their state when elected.
Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, said Georgia's state law about establishing residence to be eligible to run for office is flexible and ultimately, Walker's biggest problem could be political.
"At the end of the day, this is more of a political problem than a legal one in all likelihood, … where Walker can be painted as a carpetbagger. It does call into question whether Walker's change of residency was made in good faith," said Kreis.
He noted that in 2008, Jim Powell, a Democratic candidate for a local Public Service Commission seat, was initially disqualified from running for office by Karen Handel, a Republican who was Georgia's secretary of state, for taking a homestead tax exemption outside of his district.
But ultimately, the Georgia Supreme Court decided the candidate could remain on the ballot, saying 7 of the 15 rules showed he had ties to the district.
"The state Supreme Court said that a homestead exemption alone was not dispositive evidence that could disqualify a candidate," Kreis told CNN, but said Walker, unlike Powell, lacks a longstanding voting history and had only recently moved back to Georgia.
11Alive News, a local Georgia station, first reported that Walker took the homestead exemption on his Texas home in 2020.
Walker, despite now voting twice in Georgia and running for Senate in the state, has maintained the exemption, according to public records. The county tax office in Texas where Walker maintains his home confirmed the exemption.
Homeowners in many states are able to apply for a tax exemption by declaring their home to be their primary residence and the exemption lowers their tax bill by removing part of their home's value on paper. Under Texas law, if a homeowner moves out of the state, the resident can still receive the exemption only if they don't establish "principal residence" elsewhere and plan to return to Texas within two years.
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Is Hershel Walker's primary residence in Texas?
I hope he has a bedroom available for each of his children for visits. oh wait, that only applies to shared custody.
No.
Then at best Walker will need to pay back the tax break he received. I'm afraid this sort of action is all too familiar for politicians.
It's one of those things in politics that I used to find most distasteful. Politics has certainly gotten worse and this particular issue now seems mild in comparison.
It's called carpet bagging and I find it distasteful, also
The people that will vote for him won't care. They are some of the same people that voted for Large Marge
At least he's going into early voting (starts Saturday) behind Warnock. He's 49% with all voters and 39% with Independent voters in the last polls I've seen.
that's somewhat heartening
Ahhh, but he is 69% with vampire voters, and 51% with werewolves.
Everyone always pics the vamp....
People seem to overlook the wolvies. Sure all that hair can get a little musty at times but the sense of smell comes in handy.
I prefer werewolves myself. They only try to eat you once a month.
At other times it is a curse...
It sounds like he didn't think he could win in Texas so he goes to Georgia.
That should be a wakeup call to the people of Georgia yet somehow I doubt it.
Wouldn't be the first time that a politician moved to a different state in the hopes of an easier victory and I'm sure it won't be the last.
I am just not a fan of the practice. Didn't like it when Clinton did it, then OZ, now it seems Walker....
The man is mentally retarded, he does not belong in the US senate based upon that fact. And yes I am vehemently discriminating against the severely mentally handicapped participating in government.
Fetterman is in. anyone with a pulse is qualified.
If Terri Schiavo was still with us, she could be a Senator too..
And she would be a GOP candidate for president.
And having a stroke does not make you mentally retarded.
He should not run again.