Obama Administration Tax Cheats Bilk IRS

Is it nice to cheat tax collectors? Some 41 tax cheats currently employed by the Obama administration alone seem to take the income tax law as a suggestion, not a hard-and-fast rule that everyone should abide by. Then there are the other Capitol Hill workers...

Flawed Administration: Obama Tax Cheats Exposed

Just before the midterm elections, there comes the news that tax cheats are permeating the Obama administration. Already taking hits over clandestine health reform dealings and contradictory war policy announcements, the President now has to contend with the Washington Post revelations that finger 41 executive office employees for owing a combined $831,000 IRS debt.

Ironically, the missing income tax monies from workers at the Office of Government Ethics alone total $75,000. At a grand total, the lump sum of unpaid tax revenues due and owed by all Capitol Hill workers comes out to be $9.3 million.

Who Else Scoffs at the Tax Law?

To be fair, the Obama tax cheats are only the tip of the income tax scofflaw iceberg. Moreover, the problem of Uncle Sam's workers failing to render unto Cesar what is his also predates the Obama administration. In 2009, WTOP reported that 2008 figures show a total of 276,000 then-current and former federal workers owing a grand total of $3,042,200,000 to Uncle Sam's tax collectors.

Posting IRS records to support the numbers, it turned out that -- percentage-wise -- the National Capital Planning Commission led the pack with a delinquency rate of 10.42 percent. Dollar by dollar, the US Postal Service ranked highest, with individual workers owing a combined outstanding balance of $297,933,756.

Obama Tax Cheats vs. Raising Taxes on America's Wealthy

Perhaps it is the hypocrisy that has income tax cheats working for the highest office -- and serving in the Obama administration -- that makes the hubris of the discussion over tax law changes to impose higher fiscal burdens on others so unpalatable. The Wall Street Journal explains the reasoning of the administration as being that these tax law changes "affect only a tiny fraction of the wealthiest Americans, people who 'can afford it'." The motivation for the tax hike is clear: the deficit.

The Fish Rots from the Head Down

California faces a tax cheat problem as well. The Franchise Tax Board reports that those who cheat tax laws currently account for a $6.5 billion deficit in the Golden State. Not surprisingly, the cash-strapped legislature -- as outlined by Sign on San Diego -- has called for "speedier and more aggressive tax collections."

Interestingly, it is a call that has not yet been picked up by Capitol Hill or Obama; tax cheats continue to hold on to their offices, lifestyles, spending habits -- and lawmaking.

Sources

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090903376.html?wpisrc=nl_polalert

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=428&sid=1838232

http://www.wtop.com/docs/FERDI2008.xls

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703959704575454061524326290.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

http://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/txdlnqnt.shtml

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/26/ate-loses-65-billion-to-tax-scofflaws-tax-cheats/