As Congress and the White House cast about for ways to shrink the yawning U.S. budget deficit, they could do worse than starting with a few stern words for their own staffs. According to IRS data crunched by The Washington Post, almost 100,000 employees of Congress, the West Wing, and several other federal agencies were collectively about $1 billion short in paying their 2010 taxes. That’s “totally unacceptable and disrespectful,” says Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who’s pushing a bill to make tax delinquency a firable offense for federal workers. “If you’re on the federal payroll, the very least you can do is pay your taxes.” Here, a by-the-numbers look at the federal bureaucracy’s tax problem: $114.2 billionUnpaid 2010 taxes, interest, and penalties for all Americans $1.03 billionAmount that 98,291 federal, postal, and congressional employees owe in unpaid 2010 taxes $32 millionIncrease from 2009 to 2010 in delinquent federal employee taxes owed 0.96Tax delinquency rate, in percent, at the Treasury Department, which houses the IRS. That’s the lowest rate of any agency studied. $9.3 millionUnpaid 2010 taxes for 1,181 delinquent Treasury employees More numbers here

As Congress and the White House cast about for ways to shrink the yawning U.S. budget deficit, they could do worse than starting with a few stern words for their own staffs. According to IRS data crunched by The Washington Post, almost 100,000 employees of Congress, the West Wing, and several other federal agencies were collectively about $1 billion short in paying their 2010 taxes. That’s “totally unacceptable and disrespectful,” says Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who’s pushing a bill to make tax delinquency a firable offense for federal workers. “If you’re on the federal payroll, the very least you can do is pay your taxes.” Here, a by-the-numbers look at the federal bureaucracy’s tax problem:

  • $114.2 billion
    Unpaid 2010 taxes, interest, and penalties for all Americans
  • $1.03 billion
    Amount that 98,291 federal, postal, and congressional employees owe in unpaid 2010 taxes
  • $32 million
    Increase from 2009 to 2010 in delinquent federal employee taxes owed
  • 0.96
    Tax delinquency rate, in percent, at the Treasury Department, which houses the IRS. That’s the lowest rate of any agency studied.
  • $9.3 million
    Unpaid 2010 taxes for 1,181 delinquent Treasury employees

More numbers here

Tags: politics feds payroll taxes news unpaid taxes treasury Washington finance