WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Charles Rangel of New York headed the House’s tax-writing committee but acknowledged shortchanging the Internal Revenue Service on his own tax bill. Now, a House ethics panel will judge whether filing an amended tax return and belatedly paying his taxes and other financial and fundraising practices violated the congressional rule book.

A rare ethics trial begins Monday for the representative from Harlem. Rangel’s career peaked in 2007 when he became chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. It took a dive last March, when he relinquished that post after his corporate-funded travel was criticized in a separate ethics case. Continue reading →