The House is expected to vote this week on legislation that would make federal employees who have seriously delinquent tax debt ineligible for federal employment.
The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). Chaffetz previously introduced the legislation back in 2011 and the House voted on it, but it never advanced beyond that. He reintroduced it earlier this year.
The National Treasury Employees Union recently voiced opposition to the legislation, calling it “unfair and unnecessary.”
NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley considers the legislation a double standard, pointing out that federal employees are facing unpaid furlough days due to sequestration and that members of Congress are exempt from the legislation as well as furloughs.
“It’s a double standard that Congress imposes furloughs and firings on the federal workforce yet exempts itself,” Kelley said.
According to Chaffetz, “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.”
