The newspaper used Internal Revenue Service data to determine that 638 congressional employees -- about 4 percent of the workforce on the Hill -- owed the IRS for overdue federal taxes. That compared to a nationwide delinquency rate of 3 percent.
Even so, the more than $9 million owed by Capitol Hill workers is a small fraction of the $1 billion owed by federal employees across government.
Since the IRS does not identify delinquent taxpayers by name, much less party affiliation, it's unknown if any senators or U.S. representatives are among the scofflaws. The Post said the average unpaid tax bill in the Senate was $12,787, while the House average was $15,498.
Some Republican lawmakers say any federal employee who owes the government taxes should be sacked. "If you're on the federal payroll and you're not paying your taxes, you should be fired," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who recently introduced a bill calling for dismissals of such workers unless they have entered into payment plans.
The Post said it also found that 41 employees of the Executive Office of the President owed a total of $831,000 in back taxes -- about the same amount as what was owed by workers in that office during the last year of President George W. Bush's administration.
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