Tax Deadbeats

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking Republican Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to President Bush today complaining that over 450,000 federal workers and retirees owe $3 billion in federal taxes. The Senators also released this tax delinquency data, showing that the largest percentages of federal employee/retiree tax deadbeats are in these departments and agencies:

1. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: 9.4%
2. Government Printing Office: 7.4%
3. Smithsonian: 5.6%
4. Courts: 5.5%
5. Defense Department: 5.4%
6. Selective Service: 5.4%
7. EEOC: 5.3%
8. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.: 5.3%
9. Federal Labor Relations Authority: 5.0%
10. National Endowment for the Humanities: 5.0%

The Tax Court had 4.9% tax deadbeats, while the Treasury Department had one of the lowest percentages (1.3%).