Tax Deadbeats That Work for Us

To The Editor:
Another year has passed and, if you’re like most hard working people, you’re getting ready to do your annual civic duty. You gather all the records of money you’ve earned from employers along with the interest and dividends from your meager savings in banks and other financial institutions. If we’re retired, even the Social Security Administration will notify us how much of our own money they kindly returned to us in 2011, and on which you now owe taxes. After collecting all this minutiae, you will likely grit your teeth, grumble a bit and then file your tax returns on April 15 in order to keep the overreaching, intrusive, wasteful behemoth of our federal government in operation. Admittedly, it is a Hobson’s choice but, as the old saying goes, “It’s a tough job but somebody’s got to do it.”
Well, now it seems that adage is not exactly true if you actually work for the government. In 2010, federal employees owed billions in unpaid taxes. A reasonable person might ask, “Why is this allowed to happen? They get paid every two weeks. Why doesn’t the Internal Revenue Service begin garnishing their wages until the delinquent taxes are paid? That’s what they did to Mr. and Mrs. Whoever down the street.”
The answer to that question is that we’re talking about a government that does not apply the laws it passes in a consistent way. The problem is so serious that two members of Congress, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla), plan to introduce bills in this session that will allow federal agencies to fire tax delinquent employees. Chaffetz says the situation is “totally unacceptable and disrespectful to hardworking American taxpayers. If you’re on the federal payroll, the very least you can do is pay your taxes.”
Here is just a sampling of a few of the most egregious examples: in the Treasury Department (which ironically includes the IRS), 1,181 people owe $9.3 million; 2,030 Social Security employees owe $20.1 million; in the Postal Service, 25,640 people owe $269.5 million; 120,309 civilian and military retirees owe $2.045 billion.
If the federal government does anything (and many people question exactly what that is), it practice what it preaches: equal opportunity for all! Not one federal agency is exempt from Uncle Sam’s inertia in making the employees pony up. In Congress 467 staffers in the House owe $8.5 million; in the Senate, 217 owe $2.1 million. To add insult to injury, even the Obama White House has its share of deadbeats. Thirty-six people owe $833,970. Finally, the hallowed U.S. Tax Court itself, the ultimate decision maker on a citizen’s tax liability, has five employees that owe $62,508.
In his recent State of The Union speech Mr. Obama continued to preach his hypocritical, demagogic sermon against “millionaires and billionaires who don’t pay their fair share.” It is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office that if the government simply confiscated all of the assets of the wealthiest people on the Forbes 400 list and turned them into paupers, it would barely cover one year of interest on the soon-to-be $16.4 trillion national debt that he has compiled in three short years. Yet, as chief executive, he allows his own employees to avoid paying taxes while continuing to receive their paychecks and pensions. That is a national disgrace and one more reason why Obama does not deserve to be reelected.
GERALD STAHLECKER
Seaville