Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Failed to Pay Property Taxes On Her Portland Auto Repair Shop

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A Southwest Washington member of Congress failed for more than six months to pay the 2022 property taxes on an auto repair shop she and her spouse have owned and operated in Northeast Portland.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and husband Dean Gluesenkamp owed nearly $6,600 to Multnomah County after a business entity created by the couple missed a Nov. 15 tax deadline for Dean’s Car Care at 1506 N.E. Lombard Street in the Woodlawn neighborhood, records show.

After The Oregonian/OregonLive contacted Gluesenkamp Perez’s congressional office Wednesday, the limited liability company paid the full $6,592.18, according to a receipt he office provided to the news organization.

“Last fall, my husband and I were focused on running our family business, raising our infant, and the final weeks of an intense, hard-fought election campaign,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement. “After I was declared the winner, I gave up ownership of the property at 1506 NE Lombard. The property tax bill has been paid in full during the tax year in question.”

The tax bill had remained untouched as of Wednesday morning, according to a clerk with the county’s assessment and taxation division.

“We don’t have any payments for that tax year,” the clerk told The Oregonian/OregonLive at about 9:15 a.m.

The news organization emailed Gluesenkamp Perez’s office at 11:41 a.m. about the failed payment. According to the county, the outstanding property tax and interest penalty was paid at 12:43 p.m.



The limited liability company, Perez Gluesenkamp Enterprises, purchased the auto shop property in 2018. Records show the congresswoman and her husband paid their property taxes on time every year between 2018 and 2021.

Nearly four months after the 2022 taxes became due, Dean Gluesenkamp took sole control of limited liability company on March 3, filings with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office show.

Gluesenkamp Perez received national attention last year after she became the first Democrat in a dozen years to win Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Clark, Skamania and Lewis counties.

Throughout the campaign and since entering office in January, the 34-year-old has touted her working-class roots and experience as a tradeswoman, despite being a graduate of Portland’s elite Reed College.

“I really believe what people want is normalcy,” Gluesenkamp Perez said during an interview with Pod Save America, a progressive political podcast, in March. “We want people who pay their own taxes, that are on all the waitlists for daycare and trying to navigate the world, like running a small business.”

Ben Petersen, a spokesperson with the National Republican Campaign Committee, seized on those recent comments to criticize the first-term member of Congress.

“Not only is Gluesenkamp Perez a complete hypocrite,” Petersen said, “her tax evasion shortchanged funding for public schools, police and firefighters.”