According to some reports , some of the naton’s biggest, best-known and most consistent federal tax deadbeats fled D.C. over the weekend. Some slipped away as early as Friday morning.

Many of the escapees get a break not available to you or yours. They parked their cars free at Washington area airport parking lots, which have reserved free parking for Members of Congress, congressional staffers and some other high-ranking officials. Try leaving your car at Reagan National or Dulles Airports for 5-weeks. Your bill will probably exceed the cost of your airline tickets and your total vacation too.

The D.C., we’re talking about is Washington, D.C., not Dodge City. The difference is that the famous Kansas town, back in the day was a hotbed of wrong-doing. It was notorious for being run by government officials who often busted every law they imposed on the masses. Things sure have changed for the better, right?

Never mind. Moving on…

Members of the House and Senate, and at the highest levels of government, are now focused on a Defense Department report that says the largest federal operation has a large problem. Many, as in too many, civilian employees and private contractors who are behind in their federal taxes. Previous reports — which “shocked, shocked I tell you” members of the House and Senate — have indicated that the Internal Revenue Service gave bonuses to some employees who were behind in their taxes.

The problem when politicians get worked up about tax delayers is that many long-suffering pay-the-bills-on-time feds say: Look who’s talking!

Over the years, members of Congress and congressional staffers have been frequently outed as being slow on the draw when it comes to ponying up federal taxes. If you doubt it, Google something like “deadbeats in Congress” then stand back. You will be swamped with information about past lapses in paying taxes. Some of the excuses for not paying range from my-dog-ate-the-returns, to my husband/wife-takes-care-of- that! Famous line of comedian Steve Martin. During the skit he advises people that when the IRS comes calling, asking why you failed to file, you simply tell them “I forgot!”

There have been congressional “I forgot” tax stories almost as long as the income tax has been with us.

In 2010 The Washington Post ran a story headlined “Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in back taxes last year …” It crunched the numbers and concluded that about 4 percent of Hill staffers were behind in their taxes. The average unpaid bill at that time was $12,000 and change for the Senate and $155,498 in the House of Representatives.

An expert on the payment (or not) of taxes on Capitol Hill explained to the Post that “many new staffers come from the private sector, where they worked as lobbyists or in other higher-paying jobs. ‘They go to a somewhat lower-paying government job and then, over time, debt starts to build up.'” Just think, for years we’ve been bombarded with data showing federal workers, any way you slice it, are paid better than their counterparts in the private sector. Now we learn people come to Washington to work for the government, make less and fall behind in their taxes.

That’s better than: I forgot!

Sorry Steve.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

By Michael O’Connell

King Tut (Tutankhamun) became Pharaoh in ancient Egypt when he was 9-years old. He died at age 18 or 19.

Source: History Embalmed

MORE FROM FEDERAL NEWS RADIO:

Most TSP funds suffer losses in July
Outside of the “never has a bad day” G Fund, the Thrift Savings Plan saw across the board losses in July. However, year-to-date, each of the funds remains in positive territory.

Administration puts contractors on notice about labor law violations
Federal vendors will have to certify they are not violating 14 different federal labor laws in order to receive future government contracts. President Barack Obama signed an executive order Thursday creating yet another set of compliance requirements for more than 24,000 companies that work for the government.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.