Wampum

That does not seem to be a very difficult question. Most five year-olds can answer it. Nonetheless, as I learned today from Political Wire, it is a question that gives trouble to more than a fifth of the United States Senate. The Kansas City Star reports:

Nearly two dozen senators, including Kit Bond and Sam Brownback, got tax breaks on their Washington houses supposedly reserved only for those who make D.C. their primary residence.

By taking the tax breaks, the U.S. senators - several of whom are millionaires - cost the district government thousands of dollars in tax revenue, a review by The Kansas City Star shows.

Because lawmakers generally must be residents of the states they represent, district officials said they did not qualify for the Homestead Deduction, which is for people who are domiciled in Washington and make the city their permanent residence….

Of the 44 senators who own homes in the district, half take the deduction, according to records on file with the city's real estate and tax offices: 13 Republicans and eight Democrats, as well as the Senate's only independent, Jim Jeffords of Vermont…

The rule enables Washington homeowners to reduce the tax-assessed valuation of their homes by a flat $38,000. It also caps annual assessment increases at 12 percent--no small benefit in Washington's booming real estate market.

To qualify, property owners must apply and confirm they are "domiciled" in Washington and that the property in question is their primary residence...

Gary Ruskin, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Accountability Project, called members taking the tax breaks an example of Congress' "peculiarly permissive sense of ethics."

"The question is, are senators defrauding the D.C. government of tax revenues?" Ruskin said. "It's a reminder that so many members of Congress don't walk the walk on so many issues."...

"The only excuse is if they claim they're illiterate," Ruskin said. "There's no rocket science here. It's clear as day and that's that."

More than twenty Senators stumble over "where do you live?”

Laura Rosen at War and Piece points out that Mathew Freedman, a part time consultant to John Bolton, can’t give a straight answer to the question, “what do you do?”

When in Washington, I must remember to limit myself to "how bout them Nationals?" Or, perhaps, "hot enough for ya?" Even a Senator should be able to handle those.