Capitol Hill workers top unpaid tax list

September 9, 2010

This isn't going to help with the anti-incumbent attitude across the county.


Capitol and reflecting pond The Washington Post reports that Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in back taxes
last year. Even worse for the Washington workers, and their bosses, is
that IRS data show tax debt among Hill employees has risen at a faster
rate than the
overall tax debt on the government's books.

The IRS information doesn't get
specific; that is, there are no names and there's no indication of party
affiliation or job title.

So conceivably, some members of Congress could be tax delinquents. Admit it. You tax geeks and political wonks are wondering if former Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is on this latest list.

But, reports the Post,
the info does show that 638 of the 18,000 employees on Capitol Hill, or
about 4 percent of the workforce there, owe money. That percentage is
slightly higher than the 3 percent delinquency rate among all U.S. tax
returns.

So what's the dollar damage?

The average unpaid tax bill of a Senate taxpayers is $12,787. On the House side, the overage overdue tax amount is $15,498.

While this unpaid taxes tidbit is sure to come up on some campaign spots as we head into the midterm election home stretch, federal employee tax delinquencies aren't new.

Now I'm not saying that past tax
non-payments excuse federal employees, especially those who might be
writing our tax laws, from paying what they owe the IRS.

But I am saying that we need to consider the source of any rantings about Capitol Hill tax scofflaws.

Some folks who latch onto this latest
info might not be as upset about the actual unpaid taxes as their
carefully crafted political soundbites might indicate.

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Comments
  • No Refund
    16 years ago Reply

    In my practice 5% of all people have not filed tax returns in a timely manor. So 4% is pretty good.
    Just eliminate the REFUND$ and collect the taxes IRS. That is your job.

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