Don't Mess With Taxes

Back in January, the all-news radio station in Washington, D.C., reported on (and we blogged about) all the tax deadbeats who work or once worked in the federal government.

All told, nearly half a million current and former U.S. federal employees have not filed tax returns. Their unpaid taxes come to almost $3 billion.

I guess members of Congress don't listen to WTOP as they drive to their Capitol Hill offices, because lawmakers are just now getting around to reacting to the tax scofflaws currently or previously on Uncle Sam's payroll.

In a letter sent this week to Dubya, the chair and the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee ask for the prez's help in getting these folks fully tax compliant:

"As the nation's Chief Executive, we are asking you to instruct heads of executive departments and agencies to remind Federal employees and retirees of their tax obligations and to warn them of the consequences for failing to comply with our nation's tax laws."

Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) also invoke the new holy grail of tax policy -- closing the tax gap -- and note that these federal workers and retirees are contributing to the gap.

Every department has delinquent taxpayers.
The most tax deadbeats, percentage-wise, were found in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

The relatively good news for the Treasury Department, of which the IRS is a part,
is that it has the lowest delinquency rate, just 1.3 percent.

You can read the full letter and accompanying press release here. The Finance Committee also released a spreadsheet detailing the number of delinquent federal employees by department.