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
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$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
745
Decrease from 2009 to 2010 in number of federal employees with unpaid taxes
$10.6 million
Unpaid 2010 taxes for 684 congressional staffers
$833,970
Unpaid 2010 taxes for 36 White House employees
$111 million
Unpaid 2010 taxes for 29,482 active duty military personnel
$265.1 million
Unpaid 2010 taxes for all civilian Army, Navy, Air Force, and Pentagon workers
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
9.43
Tax delinquency rate, in percent, at the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation — the highest rate of any agency studied
$18,218
Unpaid taxes for five delinquent Council on Historic Preservation employees
2.25
Delinquency rate, in percent, at U.S. Tax Court. Five employees owe a total of $62,508.
6.49
Delinquency rate, in percent, at the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Five employees owe a combined $22,160.
Sources: Federal Times, NPR, Washington Post (2)
