Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in overdue taxes at the end
of last year, a sliver of the $1 billion owed by federal workers
nationwide but one with potential political ramifications for members of
Congress.
The debt among Hill employees has risen at a faster rate than the
overall tax debt on the government’s books, according to Internal
Revenue Service data. It comes at a time when some Republican members
are pushing for the firings of government workers who owe the IRS and
President Obama has urged a crackdown on delinquent government
contractors.
The IRS data does not identify delinquent taxpayers by name, party
affiliation or job title and does not indicate whether any members of
Congress are among the scofflaws. It shows 638 employees, or about 4
percent, of the 18,000 Hill workers owe money, a slightly higher
percentage than the 3 percent delinquency rate among all returns filed
nationwide.
The average unpaid tax bill is $12,787 among the Senate’s delinquent taxpayers and $15,498 among those working in the House.
IRS debt among government workers has surfaced as a political issue
repeatedly over the years, most recently when Rep. Jason Chaffetz,
R-Utah, introduced legislation this year to fire federal workers who owe
back taxes unless they have entered into a payment plan. Eight
Republicans co-sponsored the bill. No Democrats have signed on, and some
have said firings would reduce the government’s prospects of being
paid.
“If you’re on the federal payroll and you’re not paying your taxes,
you should be fired,” Chaffetz said in an interview. He said the policy
should apply across the board and “there should be no special
exemptions.”
An agency-by-agency breakdown of IRS debt is not published but is
available in a redacted form from the agency upon request. Along with
the Capitol Hill totals, it shows that three employees at the Office of Government Ethics
owed a total of $75,000. MORE
In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." George Orwell --
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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