Carozza Double Dipping On Tax Relief?

We know she owns multiple homes, including one in her district, but it appears that the Daily News investigation into whether Assemblywoman Ann Marie Carrozza actually lived in her district or just put up a facade that she did has got the county tax department interested in whether she was double dipping for STAR tax relief purposes.

The Nassau County Department of Assessment is investigating whether Carrozza and her doctor husband tried to double-dip under the state School Tax Relief (STAR) Program, which gives married couples a tax break on their primary residence.

Nassau records show that Carrozza's husband, Dr. William Duke, filed a STAR application in December for the $1.8million Gold Coast manse, where the Democratic lawmaker admitted she has lived since February.

The couple already gets a STAR exemption on a home they own in Bayside, Queens, public city records show. Bayside is part of the 26th Assembly District, which the 42-year-old Carrozza has represented since 1997.

After the Daily News discovered Carrozza's new digs, she admitted the family rents out the Bayside house - though she insisted it is still her "primary residence."

The couple bought the Glen Head manse in June 2008, signing public mortgage documents that explicitly state it would be their "principal residence."

The exemption on the Bayside home will save the couple $232 on their 2009-10 tax bill, according to a spokesman for the city Finance Department.

The exemption on the Glen Head home would net another $700+. It's not a lot of money, but it is the principal. These politicians believe that they are entitled to act differently than the people they claim to represent. It's time that they're held accountable and that they're held to the same standards as their constituents.