coburn’s bill
It’s not about the money or the delinquency. It’s another backdoor attempt to
Interesting as well since Coburn detests taxes in most any form; McCaskill, as I wrote above, I simply can’t figure why she joined in on piling on the federal workforce
Also, we’re in a severe recession, still, despite its “official” death in 2009 . . . So, tax arrears are higher, as are bankruptcies, foreclosures,
delinquent credit card accounts, and instances of more seniors and poor children subsisting on dog food and lemon drops.
PEW Research: Fully half (50%) of Republicans today say spending on unemployment assistance should be decreased, roughly double the share who said this two years ago (26%).
Democrats’ and Republicans’ spending preferences differ the most on aid to the unemployed and health care. In both areas, roughly half of Democrats want to see spending increased and roughly half of
Republicans want to see it reduced.
1. Government assistance for the unemployed (general public)
2009 2011 +/-
Total 15 28 +13
Republican 26 50 +24
Democrat 6 11 +5
Independent 16 29 +13
2. Would you increase, decrease or keep spending the same for Unemployment aid?
Rep Dem Ind
D-R gap
Increase 11 47 23 +36
Decrease 50 11 29 -39
IRS statistics released last December showed that of 1.2 million civilian federal workers, 99,200 – 8.3 percent – are alleged to owe the IRS a cool $1 Billion.
I wrote “alleged” since it’s likely that many of these cases are being contested, just as delinquent non-federal employees and public corporations would do.
In any event, two U.S. senators have the solution: fire the “seriously delinquent” ones. Don’t garnish wages, for example, a solution that often recovers a portion, at least, of outstanding taxes.
[REF — GAO 2001 — http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA391214
Analyzed a statistical sample of 152 federal worker and annuitant tax delinquincy cases and
determined that 12 cases (8%) were not valid unpaid tax cases as of October 1999;
labeled
Federal Employee/Retiree Delinquency Initiative
Introduced yesterday, the text of Coburn’s bill, S. 376, has. as of this writing, not yet been printed by the GPO. However, S. 376 is expected to mirror his bill, S. 3790, introduced in September 2010 during the 111th Congress, where it was placed on the Senate calendar but not voted upon. [See S. 3790 text here]
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=n00005601
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00027694&cycle=2010
Coburn contributors:
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_ind/H4OK02048
McCaskill contributors: http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_ind/S6MO00305
OK Top 100 Tax http://www2.oktax.onenet.net/rpt/p/tw/top100.html
MO Tax Liens: http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/Missouri-Foreclosures-and-Tax-Lien-Sales.htm
TSP accounts can already be garnisheed to pay for child support, alimony and to pay restitution or other costs related to a child abuse judgment. An employee who is convicted of a national security offense can also have his matching contributions, agency automatic contributions and any money earned from those contributions confiscated; in this case, employees’ own contributions and related earnings cannot be seized.
IRS Must Notify Taxpayer Money is Owed The Internal Revenue Service cannot garnish the wages of a taxpayer via a levy until they have notified the taxpayer of his debt. A Notice and Demand for Payment must be sent to the taxpayer, detailing how much money is owed in back taxes.
Taxpayer Has 30 Days to Appeal If an individual has received a Notice and Demand for Payment because the IRS believes he owes back taxes, the taxpayer has 30 days to dispute the debt. An individual has the right to request his case be reviewed or to request a Collection Due Process hearing with the Office of Appeals. If it is determined the taxpayer does indeed owe back taxes he must then pay the debt.
A Final Notice Must be Sent If it is determined that a tax debt is legitimate or if the taxpayer agrees with the debt and he either refuses to pay the debt or neglects to make a payment arrangement, a final notice must be sent to the taxpayer. A Final Notice of Intent to Levy and Notice to Your Right to a Hearing is sent to an individual at least 30 days before any action is taken to garnish of wages.
Garnishing of Wages as Last Resort After the taxpayer has been dually notified and given every opportunity to appeal a tax debt, the IRS may take whatever measures necessary to collect the debt. This includes, but is not limited to, the garnishment of wages.
Chaffetz’s 111th Bill, HR 4735:
`(1) the term ‘seriously delinquent tax debt’ means an outstanding debt under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for which a notice of lien has been filed in public records pursuant to section 6323 of such Code, except that such term does not include–
`(A) a debt that is being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement under section 7122 or section 6159 of such Code; and
`(B) a debt with respect to which a collection due process hearing under section 6330 of such Code, or relief under subsection (a), (b), or (f) of section 6015 of such Code, is requested or pending; and
`(2) the term `Federal employee’ means–
`(A) an employee, as defined by section 2105; and
`(B) an employee of the United States Postal Service or of the Postal Regulatory Commission.
