Tax cheats take note: Federal jobs may require audits

Seeking a government job? If  one senator gets his way, you better have paid your income taxes. A bill (S. 3790) introduced Sept. 15 would make anyone with seriously delinquent tax debts ineligible for a federal job.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said the Internal Revenue Service in 2009 found nearly 100,000 civilian federal employees delinquent on their federal income taxes. In total, they owe more than $1 billion in unpaid income taxes. When considering retirees and the military, more than 282,000 federal employees owed $3.3 billion in taxes.

The problem isn’t in agencies alone, according to Coburn. Capitol Hill has its own problems with delinquent taxpayers. He pointed to a Washington Post story that said congressional staff members--and possibly House and Senate lawmakers as well--had tax delinquencies totaling at least $9.3 million last year.

On Sept. 15, Coburn introduced a similar bill (S. 3791) that would require members of Congress to disclose any delinquent tax liabilities, face ethics inquiries, and then have their wages garnished for a federal tax liability.

“Legislators and government employees should not be exempt from the laws they write and enforce,” he said.