CONCORD – The apology of congresswoman Annie Kuster for being chronically late in paying her local property taxes over the past three years failed to hold back a flood tide of partisan criticism Tuesday.
About 18 hours after WMUR-TV reported that Kuster was late paying nearly $11,000 in taxes on her home in Hopkinton and a Jackson vacation home, she put out a brief statement claiming that both payments were taken care of.
“Our property taxes are paid in full with interest to the town of Hopkinton. Payment for our rental property in Jackson is en route,’’ Kuster said. “I regret the delay and apologize for any inconvenience. All future tax payments will be delivered promptly.”
A call to the Hopkinton Town Collector’s office confirmed Kuster paid $7,168 Tuesday, the amounts she had been in arrears.
The first-term Democrat whose family assets have been estimated at $1.8 million offered no explanation for why she would be late on taxes totaling $40,000 on six occasions since 2010.
In every instance, she said, she and her husband, Brad, paid up taxes and interest that had been owed before one year’s delinquency, at which time a tax lien would have been placed on the property.
It is a fact that until Kuster got her first paycheck as a member of Congress last month, she had been going without any salary for nearly two years.
Kuster took a leave of absence from the Rath and Young law firm when she first ran for the 2nd District seat in the winter of 2010 and never returned to work there.
She lost her 2010 race narrowly to Republican Charles Bass and almost immediately began to work on the rematch.
When she was sworn in to Congress in early January, Kuster owed $14,089.32 in delinquent property taxes on her Hopkinton home.![]()
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