Tax delinquency among federal workers ticks down

Federal employees and retirees got slightly better at paying their taxes in 2014, the IRS said Tuesday, with the delinquency rate ticking down to 3.1 percent.

{mosads}In all, almost 305,000 federal workers or retirees, out of 9.76 million total employees, owed a total of $3.54 billion in back taxes at the end of fiscal 2014.

The 3.1 percent delinquency rate, down from 3.3 percent in 2013, is well below the between 8 percent and 9 percent rate found among the general public. The highest delinquency rate for federal employees was among current civilian staffers and retired military, both of which came in at around 4 percent.

House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said it was “disconcerting” that so many so federal employees owed back taxes.

“It is an honor and a privilege to serve in the federal workforce,” Chaffetz said in a statement. “These employees are not exempt from their civic responsibility to fulfill tax obligations and those who refuse to pay what they owe should be held accountable.”

The data released by the IRS does not include staffers who have entered into agreements to pay back taxes.

The Departments of the Army, Education, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans’ Affairs all had delinquency rates higher than 4 percent. The Housing department had the highest rate, at 4.7 percent.

Several large- and medium-sized agencies had even higher delinquency rates, like the Smithsonian Institution (6 percent).

The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest delinquency rate among Cabinet agencies, at 1.2 percent.

Lawmakers in both parties have criticized the IRS for awarding bonuses to staffers who have tax issues. But agency officials have long noted that IRS staffers have a far better compliance rate on their taxes than other federal employees, in part because they’re more likely to be disciplined for failing to pay the government.