CONGRESS NOT PAYING THEIR INCOME TAXES NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Sacramento Bee, March 31, 2000

Lawmakers Lagging in Tax Payments

Members of Congress and their staffs owe about $10.5 million in unpaid taxes, one of the highest rates of tax nonpayment of any part of the federal government, according to IRS data released Thursday.

The nonpayment rate as of october 1999 for the House of Representatives was 8.4%, while in the Seante it was 7.5%. This same Congress, as part of the 1998 Internal Revenue Service reform law, made nonpayment of taxes an immdiate firing offense for IRS workers.

"Members of Congress and their staffs have an obligation, like all taxpayers, to pay their taxes in full and on time," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman William Roth, R-Del., who frequently gets extensions to pay taxes but is not running behind, a spokeswoman added.

The total sum for most civilian agencies of the executive branch was 6.2%, but some Cabinet agencies were much higher. The Education Department, for exazmple, had a 9.2% nonpayment rate; Housing and Urban Development's was 8.5%; and the Labor Department was 7.7%.

Do you actually think that any member of Congress or the cabinets listed above have received the infamous "Notice of Federal Tax Lien?" Yeah, sure.

Why am I not surprised these lawbreakers don't pay their taxes? Our state capitol is a smoke free building. It was built and is maintained by smoking taxpayers here in California. Yet, yesterday while I was there for the big gas tax protest, guess what I observed? The lawmakers on the baloney smoking their cigarettes. My, my. The Gods of Olympus vs. us peons.

Devvy Kidd March 31, 2000

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