By Matt Patterson

 Tax law in the United States is written largely by the powerful  Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives.  Since 2007, that committee has been chaired by Democrat Charles Rangel of New York.

Recently, Congressman Rangel was compelled to file “amended” financial disclosure forms, in which he admitted failing to report at least a half a million dollars in assets and income.

These revelations are only the latest in a series of tax and ethics problems to dog Rangel; just last year he admitted he had failed to pay taxes on $70,000 in rental income from property in the Dominican Republic.

Rangel, who has spent more than $1 million in legal fees defending himself against ethics complaints, should – at the absolute minimum – be immedietely removed from his leadership post at Ways and Means.  But that is not in the cards, at least for now: The Hill is reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will neither strip Rangel of his chair nor censure him publicly.  (This, remember, from the woman who promised in 2006 when Democrats captured the House that she would clean up the “culture of corruption” of the outgoing Republicans.  That boast is now revealed as rank hypocrisy – for Pelosi, corruption is perfectly acceptable, so long as it resides in her own party.)

Not outraged by Rangel’s twisted tale yet?  Consider: The New York Post is reporting that Rangel and his committee are seeking to rework the tax code to “reduce legal defenses and increase fines and penalties on taxpayers undergoing IRS scrutiny for what they assert are innocent errors.

Innocent errors.  Exactly what Rangel’s excuse has been for his own tax woes.  That was also the excuse of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who during his confirmation process revealed that he had failed to pay tens of thousands inSocial Security and Medicare taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2004.  Still, he was confirmed as Tax Collector in Chief by the Democrat- controlled Senate.

The message of all of this is clear- there are two tax rules, one for the plebeians, one for the patricians.  If you are a member of the governing elite, you can fail to pay your taxes, and still deign to write and enforce US tax law.  The average citizen, meanwhile, would for the same transgressions face significant sanctions, up to and including jail time.  And if Rangel and his committee get their way, rules for the average citizen will become even more stringent.

The only thing more disturbing than Rangel and Geithner in charge of tax policy is the lack of public outrage over the fact.  A people who fail to hold their leaders to account, who fail to insist that their leaders live under the same rules which govern everybody else, have effectively surrendered their capacity for self-government .

Matt Patterson is a National Review Institute Washington Fellow and the author of “Union of Hearts: The Abraham Loncoln & Ann Rutledge Story.” His email is mpatterson.column@gmail.com