Congressional Staffers Not Paying Taxes

[targus]

"Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, would like to fire Capitol Hill staff who don't pay their taxes. Chaffetz introduced legislation that would allow Hill offices to fire "the hundreds" of Senate and House staffers who owe the government millions of dollars."

"Federal employees in the U.S. House of Representatives owed more than $5.8 million in unpaid taxes in 2008. The Senate employees owe more than $2.46 million."

http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/DBRI-8394ZK?OpenDocument

"Chaffetz will introduce legislation Thursday that would allow Hill offices to get rid of the hundreds of Senate and House staffers who owe the government millions of dollars. In 2008 alone, 447 House employees and 231 Senate workers didn’t pay their taxes, according to figures from the IRS, Office of Personnel Management and Department of Defense."

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/03/600-.html

"Legislation that would force government and Hill staffers to pay back taxes or lose their jobs was pulled from House committee markup today after Democrats hit the brakes."

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2010/03/democrats-pull.html

Well - it looks like it's the Democrats that are the party of no.

No to paying their taxes that is. :BangHead:

 

[matt wade]

These folks in Washington once again show that they think they are better than and above us "commoners". They can invent new ways to spend our tax dollars every day, and it doesn't matter to them since they just won't pay their taxes!

 

[KenH]

Well - it looks like it's the Democrats that are the party of no.

No to paying their taxes that is.

"The figures show that former President George W. Bush’s employees had trouble paying up, too — 50 are delinquent, costing the government $812,917." - www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33862.html

 

[targus]

"The figures show that former President George W. Bush’s employees had trouble paying up, too — 50 are delinquent, costing the government $812,917." - www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33862.html

Every "public servant" that is paid by our tax dollars should be required to be current on their taxes as a condition of employment.

I just find it interesting that any politician would vote against staffers being required to pay their "fair share" when at the same time they are looking at increasing the taxes of regular citizens who don't derive their livelihood at the public trough.

"Fair share" - how many times have we heard politicians say that in regards to others paying taxes?

 

[KenH]

Every "public servant" that is paid by our tax dollars should be required to be current on their taxes as a condition of employment.

I agree. And it should also apply to every person residing in the United States, period. Either be current with payments or make arrangements to get them paid over time if there is financial hardship.

 

[targus]

I agree. And it should also apply to every person residing in the United States, period. Either be current with payments or make arrangements to get them paid over time if there is financial hardship.

You think that paying their taxes as a condition of employment should apply to every person in the United States?

 

[matt wade]

You think that paying their taxes as a condition of employment should apply to every person in the United States?

Why should we hold it as a condition of employment for our public servants, if we ourselves won't hold it as a condition of our employment? We don't need more double standards in this country.

I personally don't know that we need to fire anyone (including public servants) from their jobs if they owe back taxes. We do need to deal with them as the current law permits. There's no need for additional legislation here when we already have plenty of legislation in place to deal with delinquent taxes. These public servants just need to be held to the same standard that I would be held to if I owed back taxes.

 

[targus]

Why should we hold it as a condition of employment for our public servants, if we ourselves won't hold it as a condition of our employment? We don't need more double standards in this country.

I personally don't know that we need to fire anyone (including public servants) from their jobs if they owe back taxes. We do need to deal with them as the current law permits. There's no need for additional legislation here when we already have plenty of legislation in place to deal with delinquent taxes. These public servants just need to be held to the same standard that I would be held to if I owed back taxes.

I understand you point - but I also think that there is a difference in that government employees are paid by our taxes.

These staffers do a lot of the bill writing that we assume that the Congress is doing.

These are the people that make the laws that the rest of us have to live by - including the tax laws.

 

[KenH]

You think that paying their taxes as a condition of employment should apply to every person in the United States?

Absolutely. God has commanded us to pay our taxes. Romans 13:7. Also, if we do ever require a balanced budget then anyone who does not pay his taxes will be forcing the rest of us to pay them for him.