Federal Tax Scofflaws: One Down, Thousands to Go.

One down and apparently thousands to go. Charlie Rangel apparently is just the tip of the iceberg. I thought paying your taxes was patriotic?

Well, apparently, someone reminded Congress that paying one’s taxes is patriotic:

“Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), once one of the most powerful members of the House, was convicted Tuesday on 11 counts of violating ethics rules and now faces punishment.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the adjudicatory subcommittee and the full House ethics committee, announced the decision late Tuesday morning following an abbreviated public trial and nearly six hours of deliberations.

Even Charlie’s razzle couldn’t dazzle the committee.  Presumably, however, there will be other reckonings:

“Deficit cutters struggling to make ends meet in Washington are eyeballing an unusual pot of potential revenue: back taxes owed to the government by federal employees themselves.

According to an IRS study last year, those employees and federal retirees owed a staggering $3.3 billion dollars in delinquent tax payments to the government.

The federal agency with the largest back-tax bill? The US Postal Service, where hundreds of thousands of employees owed a total of more than $283 million, said the report.

Also high on the list is the Department of Veterans Affairs, where employees had more than $156 million in back taxes.

The biggest group, though, is retired military personnel. That group owed more than $1.5 billion dollars.

And even the White House folks are behind in their taxes. Employees in the executive office of the president, which includes nearly 2,000 employees, owed more than $831,000 to Uncle Sam, the IRS found.”

Interesting times — someone needs to tell Turbo-Tax Timmy that he needs to get cracking!  Maybe he should start with the man in the mirror!!  It is, however, a shame we cannot tax hypocrisy.

Posted in

Dave in EH

8 Comments

  1. Plainvillian on November 17, 2010 at 3:47 am

    Trust the New York Times and CBS to be all over this story.  It's almost as important as the Prince William's engagement.



  2. Wayne SW on November 17, 2010 at 4:03 am

    What, ONLY $ 3.3 Billion.  Don't let a little tax liability interfere the confiscation of private sector income.  Public employees serve at the expense of our confiscated earnings.



  3. Dimsdale on November 17, 2010 at 5:14 am

    The ruling class will cover its respective behinds.  Rangel will get a wrist slap.  I would hope that he would at least have to pay back taxes and penalties.  Like the rest of us poor schmucks if we were to commit even a fraction of his crimes.



  4. GdavidH on November 17, 2010 at 6:39 am

    Oh yeah, Federal, unionized employees tracking down and recovering back taxes form federal, unionized employees. What's that gonna cost us (U.S.)

    P.S….If Charlie Rangel were an "R"

      1-He would have been convicted and punished a long time ago

      2-He would not have been allowed, by the media, to get re-elected.

      3-He would be pressured by his party to resign.



  5. Dimsdale on November 17, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    Paging Maxine Waters….



  6. JohnK on November 17, 2010 at 3:22 pm

     A New York hotel queen, once said,"Only little people pay taxes." Martha Helmsley paid fines and might have done jail time.  Charley shpould do tthe same. 



  7. Dimsdale on November 18, 2010 at 3:15 am

    For all her faults, at least Leona contributed to society and ran a business.  Rangel has just been a parasite.



  8. BEA on November 18, 2010 at 3:17 am

    A little FYI for Charlie Rangel and the people who voted for him…

    "It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself." (Absurdum est ut alios regat, qui seipsum regere nescit.) Latin Proverb



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