Groom $ervice puzzle
Jumaane won’t explain deductions
City Councilman and lieutenant-governor primary candidate Jumaane Williams refused Thursday to explain how he could claim thousands of dollars in tax deductions for “grooming and maintenance” expenses that usually aren’t allowed by the IRS.
The Brooklyn Democratic councilman released five years’ worth of returns on Wednesday including write-offs totaling about $8,000 for such personal expenses as haircuts, suits and dry cleaning.
“I filed my taxes and I followed the law in filing my taxes. We have suits, we have tailoring, we have a bunch of things that go under that general theme,” Williams said.
A tax expert said Thursday the deductions are clearly improper.
“Those are called personal living expenses or family expenses and the tax code is quite clear that they are not deductible,” said Robert Willens, a professor of finance and tax law at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business.
“I’m having a hard time seeing any theory under which those expenses would be deductible.”
After ducking follow-up questions at a press conference on rent controls with Democratic gubernatorial-primary candidate Cynthia Nixon, Williams went on to accuse The Post of fabricating court papers showing he had defaulted on a home mortgage and that a restaurant he previously owned owes the state more than $10,000 in taxes and fees.
“We’re no longer talking about debt that was wildly inflated by this paper,” he said, shifting to the reports of his outstanding bills.
“No, that's what the court papers say,” a Post reporter responded.
“You’re a liar,” Williams replied. “Show me the court papers.”
He added: “The New York Post told a bunch of lies.”
At one point, a few of Williams’ supporters began shouting that the Post’s stories were “racist propaganda” from his Democratic opponent, incumbent Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Williams later led the group in a chant demanding that The Post “show the public the paperwork.”
The mortgage papers are publicly available at Brooklyn Supreme Court and show he owes $622,454.01 on a loan that Bank of America inherited when it took over Countrywide Financial.
According to the filing, the debt includes $424,167.30 in unpaid principal, $129,877.45 in interest and more than $68,000 in other fees, penalties and advances. A payment hasn’t been made since 2010.
Records also show that state authorities placed four tax warrants totaling $10,065.59 on the Earth Tonez restaurant Williams once owned in Park Slope.