7/28/2019 Capitol Hill Employees Owed $9.3 Million in Backtaxes
2010
1/3
washingtonpost.com > Politics FOLLOW POLITICS ON:
New home.
Still the best political coverage.
Network News XPROFILE
View More Activity
Resize Print
E-mail Reprints
THE STAFFERS WHO OWE THE IRS
An interactive table that shows federal
workers who owed money to the Internal
Revenue Service in 2009.
TOOLBOX
THIS STORY: READ +
Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in back taxes last
year,data show
By T.W. FarnamWashington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 9, 2010; 6:28 PM
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.
THIS STORY
Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3million in back taxes last year,
datashow
Workers who owed the IRS in 2009
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 theSenate's
delinquent taxpayers and $15,498 among those
working in the House.
IRS debt among government workers has surfaced
repeatedly as a political issue 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.
Network News XMY PROFILE
Friends' Activity Most Popular Twitter Activity
Follow The Post: View More Activity
H&R Block Official Site
www.HRBlock.com
Prepare Your Taxes For Free Today Online or In-Office with
H&R Block.
In the News Boston Marathon Pulitzer Prize NRA 500 TurboTax
Audrie Pott Faith Hill
obs Real Estate Rentals Cars Print Subscript ion Today's Paper
Discussions Going Out Guide Personal Post Videos
Politics Opinions Local Sports National World Business Tech
Lifestyle Entertainment Jobs More
ol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in back taxes last year,
data show
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09
4/15/2013
7/28/2019 Capitol Hill Employees Owed $9.3 Million in Backtaxes
2010
2/3
"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 combined
$75,000. And 41
employees at the Executive Office of the President owed $831,000
altogether - about the
same amount as during the last year ofGeorge W. Bush's
administration.
Some tax experts and watchdog groups say that Capitol Hill
employees have an added
obligation to settle IRS debts.
"Congress and their staff - because they are
the people who write the tax laws and
because they work for the public - have to be
held to a higher standard," Steve Ellis, vice
president of the watchdog group Taxpayers
for Common Sense, said when told of the IRS
numbers.
"These are hard times, but they are on the
government payroll," said Mortimer Caplin,
an IRS commissioner for presidents John F.
Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and a founding
partner of the Caplin & Drysdale law firm."The idea of
paying taxes is kind of
fundamental to a sound democracy, and they certainly have a
special obligation in that
regard."
Nationwide, debt to the IRS has been rising steadily, even
before the current economic
downturn, with $103.2 billion owed at the end of last year. Tax
experts say that
delinquencies are another sign of economic pressures on American
families, but they also
may represent bad individual money management or skewed spending
priorities.
On Capitol Hill, recent increases in delinquencies also may
reflect the unusual nature of the
workforce, which turns over dramatically when a new political
party comes into power.
From 2004 through 2006, the last three years that Republicans
were in power, the total
amount of back taxes owed each year by congressional workers
hovered just below $9million. But in 2007, when Democrats took
control of both houses, it dropped to $6.8
million. Since then, it has increased by 37 percent.
Jock Friedly, who publicizes congressional salaries on the Web
site LegiStorm, said many
new staffers come from the private sector, where they worked as
lobbyists or in other higher-
paying jobs. "They go to a somewhat lower-paying government job
and then, over time, debt
starts to build up," Friedly said.
During 2008 and 2009 - when the financial crisis took hold and
the economy started sinking
- the Senate debt increased 80 percent and the House debt
increased 25 percent.
Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) declined
to comment, and aides to
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not respond to a
request for comment.
THIS STORY: READ +
More in the Politics Section
2008 Fundraising
See who is giving to the '08 presidentialcandidates.
Research Donations ...By Name,Occupation, Employer or Zip
Code
...By State
ol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in back taxes last year,
data show
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09
4/15/2013
