Incompetence, alleged illegalities and ethics violations - whatever the yardstick - U.S. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., does not measure up.

Rangel said this week he would not step down from the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, despite news reports that he failed to report or pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from his Dominican Republic villa for at least a decade.

The irony, of course, is that Rangel is chairman of the committee that writes much of the nation's tax code - a massive document that now stretches to some 67,000 pages. If poor Charlie can't figure it out, how can the rest of us taxpaying Americans? On its face the Rangel rangling is Exhibit A for arguments to simplify the tax code.

Rangel insists his heart is pure and any mistakes were unintentional. "I personally feel that I have done nothing wrong," Rangel said of his mounting problems.

As to the Punta Cana villa, the excuses he has given are that his wife handled the family finances and that he had personally not received any cash. Now, he said, he knows that the semi-annual payments that were used to reduce the mortgage should have been reported as income.

Plus, the Harlem Democrat said, there were cultural and language problems with the resort owners in the Dominican Republic that prevented him from figuring out how the payments worked. "Every time I thought I was getting through, they started talking Spanish," Rangel said.

The estimated $10,000 tax liability from the villa is not the only fly in Rangel's soup.

In July, the New York Times reported he had leased rent-stabilized apartments from a developer. including one that was used as a Rangel campaign headquarters, in violation of New York laws. The deal has allowed the congressman to "save more than $30,000 a year" on the rent-stabilized apartments, the Times reported.

There is also the matter of using his official stationery to seek donations for a school of public service at the City University of New York - a school that will bear his name.

Rangel's solution to this string of what he obviously regards as mere peccadilloes? Why, he says he will vacate the campaign apartment, appoint a forensic team to go over his finances and ask a House ethics committee for an investigation.

We're certain the IRS and New York City will help Rep. Rangel get right on his taxes.

But the House ethics committee investigation is a notorious dodge, simply because the five Republicans and five Democrats don't really want to investigate their own. That often means they turn into long, drawn-out affairs that take years.

Given the range of improprieties here and Rangel's staggering lack of attention to ethics and personal tax responsibilities, he is no longer fit to remain as chairman of this powerful committee.

If he does not resign the post, he should be forced to step down by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.