Ilhan Omar became an overnight sensation when she became the first Somali American to be elected to the United States House of Representatives representing the 5th congressional district of the great state of Minnesota. While she has come under fire for strong stands on her political vision, there was another entry to the list. And this time, it was speculated that there seems to be some sort of inconsistencies in her tax returns. The state officials believe that there was some mismanagement of her campaign funds which raised questions on ethics. While this comes as a serious blow to her reputation, also for the fact that the congressional re-elections for the house of representatives happen once in every two years. It was alleged that she filed joint tax returns with her husband even before they were married legally. But this was not the most interesting part of the conversation. It seems she filed taxes with her present partner while she was married to another individual. Could this be a mistake or a serious offence playing around the laws in the country?
She was initially married to some individual named Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, but there was no marriage certificate. She divorced him after a few years as per her religious traditions but did not approach the matter legally until 2017. After this event, she married another person named Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi. And for her critics, these series of events couldn’t be much better; they use this tool to attack her politically while some question the authenticity of her holding one of the most respected positions in the legislative wing of the United States government. But, on the flip side, some experts in the tax space believe that she might not face any legal prosecution as tax records could always be corrected for any errors. They say that all she needs to do is correct the legality of the situation and she would be good. Nonetheless, it does not come as surprising that her republican counterparts are using this effectively to decimate her political career.
Let us investigate some of the concerns that the republican establishment has around this matter. According to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board of the state of Minnesota, Ilhan Omar could not file taxes with someone while being married to other individual as it is something not allowed in the state. As per the statement, while there are states who allow it, Minnesota does not which implies that the congresswoman has made a mistake and broke the law. Not all the accusations levied by the republicans turned out to be true, especially the one where it was alleged about mismanagement of her campaign funds.
Even though she faced a lot of heat because of this issue, the congresswoman mostly ignored and did not give much attention to the issue while she carried on with her congressional duties. It is quite probable that she never believed there was any flaw in what she was accused of; her team even went on in her support to say that all her tax records complied with the legal standards. She also stated clearly that she is ready to correct any of her records that were incorrect before she entered the congress. Regardless of what is true, it is not easy to be in the public space and not fall under any sort of criticism.
