House bill would fire tax-delinquent federal workers
BY JOSH HICKS
April 15, 2013 at 6:00 am
One measure, sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), would require federal agencies to fire employees and reject potential hires with seriously delinquent tax debt, meaning those who have been hit with a tax lien. Democrats opposed that bill when it was considered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last month.
Critics say the legislation to fire tax-delinquent feds would unfairly target civil servants, some of whom may already face economic hardship because of the furloughs that certain agencies have proposed to absorb the government-wide spending cuts that took effect on March 1.
This is a perfect example of how out of touch this Congress is, said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents approximately 150,000 federal workers.
About 3.6 percent of the nations nearly 3 million federal civilian employees owed a combined $1 billion in back taxes in 2011, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service.
Firing those deadbeats and initiating a permanent hiring freeze is a great TEA Party solution towards reducing the size of government! B^)