Federal Workers Face Paycheck Assault

What do you think, are federal employees overpaid? Let me know via Twitter (@RoniDeutch)?

From CNN.com:

A House hearing Wednesday entitled "Are Federal Workers Underpaid?" could be the first step in a new legislative assault on federal worker pay.

Republican House leaders and some conservative experts talked about the need to reduce the pay and benefits of government employees.

"Compensation of private-sector employees has not kept pace with that of federal employees," said Rep. Dennis Ross, the Florida Republican who chairs the House Oversight subcommittee conducting the hearing. "Our taxpayers can no longer be asked to foot the bill for these federal employees while watching their own salaries remain flat and their benefits erode."

Ross said he wants to gather information about "how best to address the growing pay disparity between the federal civilian and private sector workforce."

More here

Obama Calls for Federal Wage Freeze

According to CNN Money, President Obama will call for a two-year federal employee wage freeze. It is expected to save the country an estimated $60 billion over 10 years, which would only make a small dent in the forecast deficit totaling nearly $9 trillion over the next decade.

CNN Money reports

"It's a real money issue and a psychological first step," said Maya MacGuineas, fiscal policy director at the New America Foundation.

Obama was scheduled to announce the proposal later Monday.

According to the administration, the two-year pay freeze would save $2 billion for the remainder of fiscal year 2011 and $28 billion over the next five years.

The freeze would not apply to military personnel, but would apply to all civilian federal employees, including those in various alternative pay plans and those working at the Department of Defense.

Federal workers shouldn't feel singled out: The White House says more tough choices are on the way.

Read more here

Federal Workers Owe $1B in Back Taxes

According to an ABC News report, about 100,000 federal employees owe an estimated $1 million in unpaid back taxes. In an effort to recoup some of this revenue, Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah introduced a new bill that would require those federal workers to pay off their tax debts or lose their jobs.

"If you get to the point where the government is putting a lien on their property and they've exhausted their appeals ... the right thing to do is fire them as a federal worker," he told ABC. "If you're going to take federal tax dollars, you should be paying your federal taxes."

Of the 2.8 million federal employees throughout the country, more than 3 percent owed unpaid taxes in 2008, according to the IRS. And that's not including retired workers or military service members. Factor them in and the numbers spike to around 276,000 current or former workers owing roughly $3 billion, according to the report.

Chaffetz says his bill mirrors efforts by the Obama administration to end federal contracts with companies that owe taxes, which the president directed federal agencies to do in January.

Continue reading at ABC News.com…

The $9.5 Billion Gay Marriage Windfall

So far five states in this country have legalized gay marriages, but the Federal government has yet to make any changes to the definition of marriage – although on a related note Obama did sign an executive order earlier in the weekend extending benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees. Those states have reportedly seen increased revenue from the increase in marriages, and the issue has gotten many experts questioning what type of impact Federal recognition of gay marriages could create.

Miriam Marcus of Forbes.com addressed this question in a new article where he claims, “if same-sex marriage were legalized nationwide, the lackluster wedding industry would perk up fast.”

Howls of protest erupted last month when California's Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, stripping gay and lesbian couples of their right to marry. Adding to the din: all the disappointed planners, seamstresses, jewelers, travel agents and caterers who comprise the massive yet plodding American wedding industry.

There are 781,267 same-sex couples living together in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau's 2005-07 American Community Survey. The Williams Institute, a research arm of UCLA's law school, predicts that if gay marriage were legalized nationwide--only Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Iowa and (as of earlier this month) New Hampshire allow it now--about half of those couples would tie the knot within three years.

Talk about a stimulus package. While wedding-related revenues--snagged by small shops to giant corporations like Tiffany, Williams-Sonoma and Marriott International --top $160 billion (an average wedding now costs $20,400), the industry has shrunk at an annualized 1.9% rate after inflation since 1999. If half of the same-sex couples got hitched, Forbes estimates that the industry would reap nearly $10 billion in additional revenue.

Check out the rest of the article at Forbes.com, or you might be interested in reading a few earlier entries I’ve posted on LGBT financial issues – Taxes 101 For Domestic Parents & Same-Sex Couples and Taxes 101 For Domestic Parents & Same-Sex Couples.