Congress may find travel more taxing

By Lisa Mascaro (contact)

Monday, Nov. 27, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

WASHINGTON - After globe-trotting for free with their spouses on trips sponsored by private corporations and interest groups, some members of Nevada's congressional delegation may be getting a visit from the taxman.

A congressional watchdog group has asked the IRS to investigate whether Congress, which racked up nearly $50 million in free travel over five years, has been paying taxes when family members join the trips.

If not, that's a cue for the tax collector, according to Public Citizen, the Washington-based watchdog group.

Since 1998, 2,900 trips valued at $4.8 million involved family members of senators, congressmen or their staffs, the group says.

Craig Holman, the group's legislative representative, hopes the taxman's potential sting will influence lawmakers who pledged to make ethics reform part of the "first-100-hour-agenda" of the new Congress.

"Taking all the gifts, free meals, going on the golf trips to Scotland - most members never thought twice about it," he said.

"They really did believe this was their inalienable right to act this way because they're a member of Congress. They view themselves as above the tax law they wrote themselves."

Nevada's members of Congress and their staff received more than $500,000 in free travel over five years, according to the Center for Public Integrity, which examined records from January 2000 to June 2005.

Spouses joined on 11 trips with an overall price tag of more than $120,000.

Democrat Rep. Shelley Berkley's husband, Dr. Lawrence Lehrner, joined her for seven overseas trips between 2000 and 2005 to Greece, Israel, India, Taiwan and Spain.

The price tag for the trips by the congresswoman and her husband topped $80,000:

Berkley could not immediately say whether she had paid taxes on the trips, but said if the IRS determines that she owes money, she would be happy to pay.

"If this is something we should be doing, then we will comply," she said.

Arguing that all travel abroad is not "evil and bad," Berkley said the trips help members of Congress understand the broader world and view real world applications of America's foreign policy.

After being away from her family during the week, Berkley said she probably would not travel abroad if her husband could not join her.

"I'm not really interested in sacrificing my marriage for this position," she said.

Republican Rep. Jon Porter took one trip during the period examined with his now-ex-wife, Laurie, a nearly $10,000, week-long educational mission to Israel in 2003, also paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation.

"If any additional requirements are needed, Congressman Porter will gladly comply," a spokesman said.

One of Nevada Sen. Harry Reid's staffers and another staff member from Sen. John Ensign's office took spouses with them on trips during the five-year period. The Reid staffer's trip to Aspen cost $4,300, while it cost $26,400 to send the Ensign aide and his wife to Australia.

One trip not among those examined by the watchdog groups nonetheless generated controversy on its own.

Late in this month's gubernatorial campaign, the Wall Street Journal disclosed that GOP nominee Jim Gibbons had taken a week-long March 2005 Caribbean cruise with his wife and son valued at $10,000, excluding airfare, that was paid for by a Reno businessman who received millions in government contracts while Gibbons was in Congress.

One reason that trip escaped the groups' scrutiny is that Gibbons did not list it on disclosure forms filed with the House ethics committee. In addition, in contrast to other congressional members' trips that involved at least some official business, Gibbons' cruise was strictly a vacation.

Gibbons, who has said the failure to report the cruise was a clerical error and not an attempt to conceal anything, has asked the ethics panel to review whether he needed to disclose the gift from his longtime friend.

"We certainly will cooperate and do whatever we can to make sure we're in compliance," said Gibbons spokeswoman Melissa Subbotin. "We have nothing to hide."

Travel junkets, long a routine - if often controversial - for lawmakers, got an even blacker eye during the corruption scandals of the outgoing Congress.

While some travel can be beneficial, say to survey hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, other trips are thinly veiled vacations, experts say. Now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff, for example, took Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and others on a golfing junket to an exclusive course in Scotland.

Congress allows members to take free trips sponsored by privately funded corporate or special interests - and to bring along one relative.

Democrats have considered an outright ban on free travel as part of their pledge to make substantive ethics changes when they take control of the House and Senate in January. Voters cited corruption as one of their top concerns when, on Election Day, they tossed enough Republicans out of office to allow the Democrats to regain control of Congress.

Public Citizen asked the IRS to investigate the foreign travel tax issue after a Detroit News investigation found that Congress at the time had no oral or written policy advising members to pay taxes when spouses travel.

The group said that while business executives don't need to pay taxes when they travel for free, they must pay the government when their family goes along - unless the relative "serves a bona fide business purpose."

Congress is no different, the group said.

"As with the rest of us, the 'freebies' - the value of transportation, lodging, food, entertainment, and the like - must be declared as income," the group wrote.