Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) expressed his disappointment in a recent statement about the 3% increase in the amount of tax delinquent debt incurred by federal employees.
According to 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.”
The bill to which Chaffetz is referring is one which he proposed last year. He introduced legislation which would terminate the employment of current federal employees and prohibit the hiring of future federal employees who have a seriously delinquent tax debt.
He said at the time, “Federal employees, contractors, and grantees have an obvious obligation to pay their taxes. Because they draw their compensation and funds from the American taxpayers, they owe it to the taxpayers themselves to be compliant. Those that do not, should be fired or lose funding.”
The table below shows the annual trend of tax delinquent federal employees dating back to 2004. While the number of delinquent federal employees has decreased slightly, the amount owed has increased, topping the billion dollar mark starting in 2009.
| Year | Number of Delinquent Federal Employees | Amount of Delinquencies |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 102,794 | $599.8 million |
| 2005 | 110,851 | $681.3 million |
| 2006 | 102,962 | $693.4 million |
| 2007 | 102,213 | $844.4 million |
| 2008 | 97,200 | $962.1 million |
| 2009 | 99,036 | $1.002 billion |
| 2010 | 98,291 | $1.034 billion |
Source: Internal Revenue Service FERDI. Excludes federal employees who owe taxes but have entered into repayment agreements.
