Federal workers across the fruited plain owe more than $1 billion in back taxes. That’s bad enough. But now comes the news that congressional employees owe more than $9.3 million.
The Washington Post has the deadbeat details:
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 information does not identify delinquent taxpayers by name, party affiliation or job title and does not indicate whether members of Congress are among the scofflaws. It shows that 638 employees, or about 4 percent, of the 18,000 Hill workers owe money.
The average unpaid tax bill is $12,787 among the Senate’s delinquent taxpayers and $15,498 among those working in the House.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does. Poke into any corner in Washington, DC and you’ll find deadbeats:
41 White House employees owe the government $831,055 in back taxes. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’ runs a department in which 463 employes owe $7,481,463. Eighty-one people working for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors owe $1,076,733. And Eric Holder’s Justice Department has a remarkable 1,971 employees who have stiffed the government for $14,350,152 in overdue taxes. Janet Napolitano, Director of Homeland Security, has 4,856 employees who owe the IRS $37,012,174.
Fact is, they all owe us an apology. With penalties and interest.
H/T: HotAir.com
This post was last modified on April 10, 2021
View Comments (7)
I make about $1200 a month. Due to a computational error, I owe a few hundred dollars to IRS and they are trying to garnish what pay I get. But these guys can ride with thousands owed? Tell me we're all equal.
Two simple words: "I forgot". That's right, all these delinquent federal employees forgot they have an obligation to file and full pay federal income tax returns. It started with Timothy Geithner, the tax avoiding Director of the Treasury and spread to Charlie Rangel, the tax dodging chairman of the House Ways and Means comittee. They forgot, so thousands of other federal employees decided to forget too. Maybe the epidemic of forgetfulness will spread across the nation as millions of ordinary Americans "forget" to pay taxes too.
That was an old Steve martin comedy sketch -- "How to earn ONE MILLION DOLLARS and never pay taxes." Just say "I forgot."
You know, at a lot of employers, failing to follow your company goals in such a profound manner is grounds for immediate dismissal. (e.g. bouncing checks while you work at a bank, failing to pay your bills when you work in accounts receivable, driving drunk when you work at an insurance company).
Would that our federal government follow this very simple procedure, rather than lecture corporations on how to run their business.
perlcat,
You have a good memory for Steve Martin routines!
I used to work for the Treasury Department; at that time failing to file a tax return (city, state or federal) or failing to full pay any balance of tax due (or making suitable arrangements) was grounds for immediate dismissal, no appeal, you're gone. I saw it happen to several people.
The threat of firing or suspension also applied to failure to pay personal debts or get into legal problems (i.e drunk driving, shoplifting, etc.)
Apparently things are a lot looser now, if a few thousand of these federal deadbeats were canned, voluntary compliance would soar.
Not to mention productivity. I cannot imagine that people unclear on the concept of "pay your f*cking taxes" really contribute to anybody's bottom line.
Silly IHTM. Don't you know that taxes are just for us little people?
Liberals don't have to pay taxes, it's in the Constitution.