Washington, D.C
Angela Alsobrooks improperly claimed tax deductions on DC, Maryland properties, records show
Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Maryland, improperly took advantage of tax breaks she did not qualify for, including one meant for low-income senior citizens, saving thousands of dollars in taxes on two properties she owned in Washington, DC, and in Maryland.
A CNN review of property records and tax bills shows that for both properties, Alsobrooks claimed for more than a decade a homestead tax exemption that is meant to apply only to someone’s primary residence, violating state and local tax relief requirements.
She also improperly claimed a senior citizens’ tax break on her Washington property, cutting the tax bill in half. Alsobrooks, 53, never qualified for that tax break, but her grandparents, who owned the property before her, likely did.
A senior adviser for Alsobrooks told CNN that she was unaware of the problem and that her attorneys are working with both Washington and Prince George’s County, Maryland, to resolve the issue.
Alsobrooks saved nearly $14,000 in taxes between 2005 and 2017 on her northeast Washington property by using tax exemptions meant for the district’s primary residents, lower income residents and senior citizens, according to property tax bills reviewed by CNN.
But she did not live in Washington, according to public records. Since 1995, she has been registered to vote in Prince George’s County, where she’s been a longtime government official. She’s currently the county executive there, where she oversees the county’s budget and its tax collection division.
Connor Lounsbury, senior adviser to Alsobrooks, told CNN that after her grandmother moved out of the home in northeast Washington, Alsobrooks paid the mortgage on the property until it was sold in 2018. “She was unaware of any tax credits attached to that property and has reached out to the District of Columbia to resolve the issue and make any necessary payment,” Lounsbury said.
In 2005, Alsobrooks bought a townhouse in Prince George’s County. State records show she applied for and received a homestead exemption in 2008 for the townhouse. It’s unclear when, but she eventually began renting out the property – while continuing to take the exemption meant for primary residents.
While county records for her property tax bill on the townhouse go back only as far as fiscal year 2020, it is estimated that the exemption would have saved her at least $2,600 since then.
In 2014, Alsobrooks bought another home in an “equestrian” community in Prince George’s County. She lists the property as her primary residence on her mortgage – but does not take a homestead exemption there, something her campaign points out has actually cost her money.
“When Angela bought her new property, the homestead tax credit from her previous home was not transferred,” Lounsbury said. “This resulted in no financial gain for Angela. In fact, she ended up paying more in taxes than she would have had the credit transferred over. Nevertheless, Angela is working to repay any credits received on the old property.”
Key Senate race
After winning a contested Democratic primary earlier this year, Alsobrooks faces Republican Larry Hogan, the former Maryland governor, in the race to fill the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Ben Cardin.
In most election cycles, a Democratic nominee from deep-blue Maryland would be a shoo-in to win the general election in November. But Hogan’s entrance into the race has put the seat in play, adding to the Democratic struggle to hang on to power given that the party will need to hold seven seats in difficult races simply to keep the Senate at 50-50.
Improper use of tax exemptions has long plagued politicians running for office – at least, politically. In 2023, CNN’s KFile reported California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff claimed primary residences in California and Maryland at the same time, claiming they were categorized as such for loan purposes. And in 2022, CNN reported that Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker received a tax break on his Texas home intended for primary residence, despite running for office in Georgia.
Alsobrooks’ campaign pointed out Hogan also received a tax break on his Edgewater, Maryland, home in 2016 while living in the governor’s mansion in Annapolis. But governors and federal employees are exempt from the residency requirements.
Homestead tax exemptions are meant to shield a fraction of a home’s value from property taxes and apply to primary residencies, not rental or investment properties.
Records show Alsobrooks obtained the DC property after her grandmother transferred the deed to her in late 2003. Her grandparents likely qualified for the senior citizens’ tax break, and Alsobrooks never changed the exemption status.
DC law says the failure to cancel exemptions that no longer apply to the homeowner can result in “penalties equal to 10% of the delinquent tax and interest accruing each month at 1.5% until paid in full.” But it is up to the district to go after the homeowner for the money – and up to the homeowner to cancel the exemptions if circumstances change.
Alsobrooks continues to claim a homestead tax exemption on her Maryland townhouse, even though she no longer lives there and uses it as a rental property.
It’s unclear when Alsobrooks started renting out that property. According to state records, she applied for a license to rent out the property in 2021. In her financial disclosures that were released in August, she disclosed rental income between $15,000 and $50,000 for residential real estate.
Alsobrooks’ campaign pointed to her record advocating for local tax relief. In the summer of 2020, Alsobrooks opposed a county measure that would have raised property taxes to make up for lost revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic. And in 2022, she signed a law granting eligible elderly residents a property tax credit that would last for up to five years.
Barrier-breaking career
Alsobrooks has had a barrier-breaking career, rising in 2010 to become the first woman elected as state’s attorney from Prince George’s County before being elected in 2018 as the first woman county executive in the suburban Maryland county.
She overcame steep odds in this year’s Democratic primary to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Cardin. Her deep-pocketed opponent, Rep. David Trone, outspent her nearly 10-to-1 and dumped more than $60 million of his own cash into the race.
But despite the attacks Trone leveled against her, Alsobrooks ended up winning by 10 points, as her party sought to make her the first Black woman elected to the Senate from Maryland.
Alsobrooks has sought to nationalize the race against Hogan, a popular former governor who has sought to distance himself from former President Donald Trump. She has tried to tap into the strong Democratic leanings of the state by arguing that a Hogan victory would likely mean Republicans win back control of the Senate – and with it, the power to set the agenda and confirm judicial nominees.
On the campaign trail, Alsobrooks has pushed for a “fairer tax system” and has sharply criticized tax breaks for the richest of taxpayers.
“Too many Americans are struggling to get by and are forced to live paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet,” Alsobrooks posted on X earlier this year. “As your senator, I will fight for a fairer tax system that doesn’t deliver handouts to the top 1%.”
Washington, D.C
The director of the Congressional Budget Office—known for its gloomy national debt data—is very optimistic that a crisis will be avoided entirely | Fortune
Dr Phillip Swagel is an optimist, both by nature and when he looks at the U.S. economy.
This fact is perhaps at odds with what one might assume: Swagel is the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the nonpartisan agency that offers independent budgetary and economic analysis to Congress.
Very often—an inevitable occupational hazard—the subject of national debt and the interest the U.S. Treasury pays to maintain is its central focus. The numbers are eye-watering: Public debt stands at more than $39 trillion. The interest expense on that borrowing now exceeds $1 trillion a year. Indeed, the latest budget update from the CBO highlights that the government—according to preliminary estimates—paid out nearly $530 billion between October 2025, when the fiscal year starts, and March 2026. This equates to more than $88 billion in interest payments a month, or more than $22 billion a week.
The CBO’s figures are routinely cited by policymakers, think tanks, and lobbyists as alarming evidence that the U.S. needs to find a more sustainable fiscal path or risk dire straits.
Swagel doesn’t subscribe to the notion that the U.S. will face a crisis of its own making. His justification is simple: He was at the Treasury during the 2008 financial crisis, and joined the CBO months before the COVID pandemic began. He has watched as the U.S. economy, seemingly against all odds, has clawed its way out of economic crises before.
That’s not to say Swagel isn’t a staunch advocate of setting the U.S. on a more sustainable fiscal path—rather, he trusts the people in power to do so when the time comes.
Why the optimism?
Among those concerned about national debt are notable names: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is also worried about federal spending and has endorsed a plan floated by Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffett that would render members of Congress ineligible for reelection if they allow deficits to exceed 3% of GDP.
On the other hand, optimistic economists suggest that, despite the value of the debt, it’s not actually an issue: the bond market is holding steady, indicating a reliable market of buyers. Likewise, the U.S.’s own central bank buys huge swaths of the debt, meaning, in the simplest of layman’s terms, the economy can essentially print its own money. There are holes in this argument, not least the fact that Fed chairman nominee Kevin Warsh has suggested he would like to reduce the Fed’s balance sheet and may therefore be less inclined to finance borrowing.
Swagel’s positive outlook doesn’t rely on the argument that a crisis hasn’t happened yet, so therefore it never will: “[My optimism] is rooted in my experience,” Swagel tells Fortune in an exclusive interview in Washington D.C. “First being at Treasury during the financial crisis and seeing very difficult times and the country coming together with an effective response—not saying it’s perfect, lots of controversy—but it was effective.”
“The second thing is policymakers are smart, they’re thoughtful. Interacting with members of Congress makes me optimistic. I know you read about all the squabbles … I’m completely aware of this, but the policymakers that are thinking about these things are thoughtful and effective. Not necessarily always effective at passing legislation, but that’s part of our political system, it was set up to make it difficult ot pass legislation.”
Decisions on the horizon
Swagel’s optimism that Congress will be pushed into action will be tested sooner rather than later, likely at some point in the next six years, he told Fortune. This is partly due to the fact that, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) both Social Security and Medicare will become insolvent within that time period.
“Making progress to address the fiscal trajectory would be a positive for the U.S. economy,” Swagel said. “Credible steps would lead to lower interest rates that would make the subsequent adjustment easier, there is a reward to virtue. It’s a positive thing, we can’t go on [with] the scolding narrative. My sense is that members of Congress understand the fiscal situation, it’s not that everyone single one has looked at our one-pager of numbers and understands the debt to the third decimal point, but they understand something needs to be done.”
“It doesn’t have to be done immediately, but at some point reasonably soon.”
Swagel is of the opinion that bond investors haven’t increased risk premiums not because they’re not worried about a fiscal crisis, but because they have priced in preventative action from Congress—in his mind “a vote of confidence that my optimism is not misplaced.”
“As a country, we face up to these problems. It’s not happening now, I’m not sure it’s going to happen in the rest of this year or even the next year, or the next two years. But we will face up to it, and the market in some sense expects us to, because otherwise interest rates would be higher,” he explained.
The Cheesecake Factory
The role of the CBO, to some extent, is to provide policymakers with their options if and when they do choose to take action on federal deficits. It’s a menu not unlike the Cheesecake Factory, Swagel says: Large, inclusive of a range of modifications and options, and delivered without judgement.
“Right now it’s maybe a pick three, and you’re looking at a six or seven course menu,” joked Caleb Quakenbush, director of fiscal policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, in an interview with Fortune. “The longer you delay, the more you’re gonna have to add to your tab, and those options become more expensive.”
Indeed, economists and analysts aren’t necessarily worried about the absolute level of government debt, rather the debt-to-GDP ratio. Depending on whom you ask, the debt-to-GDP ratio stands at around 122% of GDP at present. This measure demonstrates an economy’s spending versus its growth, and the risk associated with lending to a nation that isn’t growing fast enough to handle its spending. To rebalance that ratio, an economy could either cut spending or increase growth—the latter being by far the less painful option.
The growth option is becoming less feasible, Michael Peterson, CEO of fiscal think tank the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, told Fortune in an exclusive interview: “I think it requires government action because we’ve waited so long. We’ve added so many trillions, and the current deficit is so big at 6% that the level of growth you would need really exceeds what is feasible.
“Growth needs to be a part of it, but it’s sort of a vicious cycle. The longer we delay, the more debt we have, the slower growth is going to be. The more we get this under control, I think the greater optimism there is, interest rates go down, more growth comes from that. It’s sort of a virtuous or vicious cycle depending on your policy response.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Seventy-two veterans took a trip Saturday to our nation’s capital to visit memorials honoring their service in the armed forces.
This year marks the 12th trip to Washington, D.C. for Honor Flight Tallahassee.
Early Saturday morning, veterans and their guardians met to take a charter flight up to D.C.
Throughout the day, veterans were taken to the World War II memorial, as well as the Korean and Vietnam War memorials. The veterans also visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
More Tallahassee news:
The day ended with a wonderful welcome home celebration.
Our Jacob Murphey, Julia Miller, Taylor Viles, and Grace Temple accompanied the veterans, capturing moments from throughout the day.
The team will have live coverage from Washington, D.C. on Monday to share more from the day’s events.
We will continue to have coverage throughout the month of May, leading up to our Honor Flight special on Memorial Day.
To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).
Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.
Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here to get started.
Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.
4 things to know about the weather:
- Chances of rain in the morning
- Gusty Sunday
- Chilly Monday
- Temps will rise again through the work week
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
After a nice and warm Saturday, changes arrive for part two of the weekend.
The first half of your Sunday will have a chance for showers. Winds will pick up with our next system and are expected to gust to about 20-30 mph. Cooler air will settle in, and lows Sunday night fall into the 40s.
Highs temps Monday will reach only into the mid to upper 50s.
However, temperatures will rise through the week, so you won’t need your jackets every day.
QuickCast
SUNDAY:
Showers, then partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 30 mph
HIGH: Lower 60s
MONDAY:
Partly cloudy
Wind: NW 10-15 mph
Gusts @ 25 mph
HIGH: Upper 50s
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
-
Delaware26 seconds agoViVA Awards luncheon celebrates service across Delaware County
-
Georgia12 minutes agoGeorgia Tech salvages finale vs. North Carolina ahead of UGA matchup
-
Hawaii18 minutes agoHawaii Snorkel Tour Hits Rough Waters After Tourtist Allegedly Stabs Boat Captain | Oxygen
-
Idaho24 minutes agoThe Camas Prairie is Biblical Idaho
-
Illinois30 minutes agoHas Trump’s approval dropped in Illinois amid Pope Leo feud? See polls
-
Indiana36 minutes agoOp-ed: Healthy rural communities strengthen all of Indiana
-
Iowa42 minutes agoSen. Chuck Grassley shares he’s recovering from gallstone surgery
-
Kentucky54 minutes agoKentucky will get a visit from a forward with three-point upside