Monday, February 06, 2012

White House employees owe back taxes to the IRS

White House employees owe a huge amount in taxes to the IRS. Thirty six employees owe an average of $23,165.33! Daily Caller

Who cares?

Congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah wants to do something about it. (Oh, he is a Republican.) Now only IRS employees are penalized for thumbing their nose at Timothy Geithner, the tax man. Chaffetz's HR 828 allows federal management to fire employees who are seriously delinquent in federal taxes

Rep. Chaffetz

“If you work for the federal government and you don't pay your taxes, you should be fired. It is totally unacceptable to live on the federal payroll and not pay your taxes. The Obama Administration has totally ignored this cheating. Congress should pass my bill and hold federal workers accountable.” 

This past June, Mr. Chaffetz introduced legislation (H.R. 828) which would terminate the employment of current federal employees and prohibit the hiring of future federal employees who have a “seriously delinquent tax debt.” Similar legislation was introduced during the 111th Congress (H.R. 4735). Each employee terminated would be subject to due process. The Daily Caller published a column by Mr. Chaffetz on this subject in March 2011. 

According to FERDI, more than 98,000 federal civilian employees owed $1.034 billion in unpaid federal income taxes in 2010. When retirees and military personnel are included, nearly 280,000 people owed $3.4 billion. Currently, only IRS employees can be terminated by their agency for non-payment of federal income taxes.
Current news sources say that Chaffetz's bill allows, not requires, firing, but his own web site says "would terminate…"

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