As the IRS is getting more aggressive in their collection efforts – tax liens and levies are increased, even while the number of taxpayers who owe is going down – reports of government employees with tax debts keep rolling out. Some estimates put the total owed by federal employees at a whopping $3 billion. So, before we start raising taxes or cutting programs, maybe we should ask our government to lead by example?
From CNBC.com:
Need a quick three billion dollars, Uncle Sam? How about looking in your own pockets?
Deficit cutters struggling to make ends meet in Washington are eyeballing an unusual pot of potential revenue: back taxes owed to the government by federal employees themselves.
According to an IRS study last year, those employees and federal retirees owed a staggering $3.3 billion dollars in delinquent tax payments to the government.
The federal agency with the largest back-tax bill? The US Postal Service, where hundreds of thousands of employees owed a total of more than $283 million, said the report.
Also high on the list is the Department of Veterans Affairs, where employees had more than $156 million in back taxes.
The biggest group, though, is retired military personnel. That group owed more than $1.5 billion dollars.