Congressman John Carter (R-TX) today posted his federal tax returns for 2006 and 2007 online to silence false media attacks that he failed to pay income tax on sales of Exxon-Mobil stock. And the former Texas Judge dared House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to do the same.

Carter took to the floor of the House this afternoon on CSPAN to publicly challenge Rangel and Geithner to come clean with their previous admitted tax violations by paying penalties and interest in line with those paid by other taxpayers in similar cases.

"We knew these attacks would come when we started our campaign to demand a return to the Rule of Law in the House," says Carter. "Whenever anyone stands up to this systemic Democrat corruption in Washington, you can bet the smear campaigns against them will soon follow."

Democrat activists, in an attempt to stem public criticism on the failure of Geithner and Rangel to report or pay taxes on years of foreign income, have alleged that Carter failed to pay income tax on the sale of oil stock over two years.

But Carter’s online posting of his returns show that he fully reported the sales and capital gains in both years and paid all taxes due. In addition, Carter reported the stock sales both years on his House Financial Disclosure Statements, which he has also publicly posted.

"Now it’s time for Chairman Rangel and Secretary Geithner to pony up," says Carter. "I have posted my tax returns as part of amending my House Disclosure statements, President Barack Obama has done exactly the same when amending his Disclosures, and the only reason for these two to hold back is if they have something to hide."

Carter today filed amendments to add the amount of the capital gains to his House Financial Disclosure Statements.

Rangel failed to pay income tax for over a decade on his Caribbean resort property, while Geithner evaded withholding taxes on income from the International Monetary Fund over multiple years. Neither has paid penalties on the violations, and Rangel has failed to even pay interest charges.

Rangel has also filed amendments to his House Disclosure Statements this year, but has refused reporters’ requests to examine his federal tax returns to determine whether he again failed to report income to the IRS.

Click here to view the remarks. Text of remarks:

Mr. Speaker, this past week I discovered I made an error on my House Financial Disclosure forms for 2006 and 2007. I properly reported my stock dividends, sales, and capital gains on my federal tax returns and paid all taxes in full. I also properly reported dividend income on my stocks and the sale amount of my stocks on my House Financial Disclosure form in both years. My error was in leaving out the amount of the capital gains from the sales. I have amended my returns to reflect those amounts. None of this changed my net worth a penny. There is a good editorial on this in today’s Roll Call and I urge each member to read it.

To make the point on this issue of my amending my House disclosure, and my continued campaign on the Rule of Law, I have today posted my federal tax returns for 2006 and 2007 online. I am not the first to take this step to clear up the matter. President Barack Obama did the same last year when he discovered he made the identical omission as mine. He amended his return, and posted his federal taxes online.

Now it’s time for House Ways and Means Chairman Rangel and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to pony up. The only reason for these two to hold back is if they have something to hide.

Chairman Rangel failed to pay income tax for over a decade on his Caribbean resort property, while Secretary Geithner evaded withholding taxes on income from the International Monetary Fund over multiple years. Neither has paid any penalty on their violations, as would have the average American taxpayer. The American public needs to know that Chairman Rangel has not again failed to report or pay federal taxes while still not paying penalties and interest on his previous evasions, all while overseeing the IRS.

They also need to know that the Secretary of the Treasury is not using his high station to avoid complying with the same IRS rules as his fellow citizens. While he is asking his fellow taxpayers to pay a 20-50% penalty for failure to report and pay income tax on foreign deposits, he has failed to pay a nickel on multiple years of evading federal taxes on income from the IMF.

My opinion is that anyone who fails to disclose income and pay their taxes should pay a reasonable penalty with interest. If not, our tax code becomes unenforceable.

But I also believe the higher law is the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Secretary Geithner cannot legally charge his fellow Americans penalties when he has paid none himself. That is a violation of the Constitution.

Next week I will introduce legislation dealing with the Treasury Secretary’s failure to abide by the same tax laws as the rest of the country. So if anyone was thinking I would slack off defending the Rule of Law because of a House Disclosure error they obviously have another think coming. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield.