Federal Workers Owe $1B in Back Taxes

2010 figure soars $32M from year before
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2012 11:02 AM CST
Federal Workers Owe $1B in Back Taxes
Federal workers owed more than $1 billion in back taxes in 2010.   (Shutterstock)

Some 98,000 federal workers owed $1.03 billion in unpaid taxes at the end of the 2010 fiscal year. While that's fewer employees than in 2009, the amount of cash owed climbed by $32 million, the Washington Post reports. Defense Department workers owed the most, with more than 30,000 employees—including 4,600 civilian employees—in the red by $265 million, while 2% of active duty troops and 2% of reservists owed $339 million.

Some 4% of congressional staffers—684 workers—owed $10.6 million, while 2% of workers at the 1,800-employee Executive Office of the President owed $834,000. About 4% of postal service employees owed $269.6 million. Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is pushing legislation to require federal agencies to fire workers who deliberately dodge taxes, called the news "totally unacceptable and disrespectful to hardworking American taxpayers." Overall, US taxpayers owed a total of $114.2 billion including interest and penalties. (More federal employees stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X