Tax Collection: where to find 3.3 billion

The government's own employees:

Federal workers owe IRS the $3.3 billion
Lots of people haven't paid all their taxes -- including employees of the federal government.

The IRS released data this week showing that roughly 3.3% of federal employees and retirees owed $3.3 billion in unpaid taxes as of Sept. 30.

That means they either couldn't pay the full amount owed when they filed a return, or they got snagged by an IRS audit and were told they owed more than they already paid.

The data, released after USA Today requested it under the Freedom of Information Act, broke down delinquency rates by departments and independent agencies.

At the low end of the scale was the Treasury Department, which had a 1.2% non-compliance rate.

A big part of Treasury is the IRS itself, which had a delinquency rate of 0.9%, according to an agency spokesman.

The rate among the population at large is at least 8.7%, the IRS estimates.

A few weeks ago the IRS found itself in hot water with Congress for having paid $1 million in bonuses to 1,100 IRS employees who were late in paying their taxes or had willfully understated their tax liability or income.

But it turns out the delinquency rate among Congressional staffers is higher -- 4.87% in the House and 3.24% in the Senate -- than those of IRS workers.

The government departments with the highest non-compliance rates were the Department of Housing and Urban Development (5.29%), the Department of Veterans Affairs (4.38%) and the Army (4.28%).

Among large independent federal agencies, which have at least 1,000 employees, the biggest offender was the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (8.05%), followed by the Government Printing Office (7.99%), the Smithsonian Institution (6.7%) and the Federal Reserve's board of governors (6.51%).

On the low end of the scale was the National Credit Union Administration (1.75%), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1.97%) and the Executive Office of the President (2.05%).

     

How Government Employee Unions = Extortion

This is what I mean, when I say "The fox is in charge of the hen house". Here is the proof:

If Ya Can’t Beat ‘Em, Extort ‘Em

WTMJ radio has a letter that was apparently sent last week to Wisconsin business owners who supported Scott Walker for governor. [...]

Read the letter. Look who signed it. They are using their position, and their income based on taxpayers dollars, to intimidate voters and taxpayers.

How would you like to get a letter from representatives of the police, and other government services, telling you to who to support pollitically, "... or else"? Shame on them. Who is to be master of our municipal and state governments? The voters or the “public servants.” Shame on them. SHAME.


Also see:

Why Unions need limits placed on them

Public Employee Unions need to Get Real

Government Employee Unions are Ruining Us

How Public Employee Unions Shakedown Taxpayers in a vicious, endless cycle

End Union Thuggery and Mob Rule

Best option to avoid a massive federal bailout

What the 1930's can teach us about NOW

     

Why Unions need limits placed on them

5 Reasons Unions Are Bad For America

At one time in this country, there were few workplace safety laws, few restraints on employers, and incredibly exploitive working conditions that ranged from slavery, to share cropping, to putting children in dangerous working conditions. Unions, to their everlasting credit, helped play an important role in leveling the playing field for workers.

However, as the laws changed, there was less and less need for unions. Because of that, union membership shrank. In response, the unions became more explicitly involved in politics. Over time, they managed to co-opt the Democratic Party, pull their strings, and rewrite our labor laws in their favor.

As Lord Acton noted, "Power tends to corrupt," and that has certainly been true for the unions. Unions have become selfish, extremely greedy, and even thuggish in their never-ending quest to take in as much as they can for themselves, at the expense of everyone else who crosses their path.

That's why today, unions have changed from organizations that "look out for the little guy" into the largest, most rapacious special interest group in the entire country. Where unions go, disaster usually follows. Just to name a few examples: [...]

It goes on to give 5 excellent examples of how the unions have been bilking taxpayers, demonstrating why it must not be allowed to continue. For all our sakes.
     

How Public Employee Unions Shakedown Taxpayers in a vicious, endless cycle

It's like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Here's how it works:

Everything that Is Wrong with Public Sector Unions in Thirty Seconds

This thirty second video will show you everything that is wrong with public sector unions. [...]

[...] The video above shows a representative of the United Healthcare Workers from a budget hearing in California in 2009. She makes it clear that the union got ‘democrats’ elected and that they [the union] ‘have long memories’ should the members deign to not support the union demands. If the officials support needed measures to cut spending, the representative will unleash her members to campaign against their reelection. And her threats are all legally sanctioned. And they are paid for by us.

This is the central problem with public sector unions. They get to use taxpayer money to elect their bosses and they get to use taxpayer money to convince their bosses to give them more taxpayer money.

Let’s recap where we are:

* We’ve allowed labor unions to become monopoly personnel providers for many state and local governments

* We force employees to make weekly payments to union leaders

* The union leaders use these payments to hire lobbyists to agitate for more government spending

* The union leaders use these payments to spend millions on campaigns to elect politicians

* The union leaders then negotiate with these politicians to set pay, benefits and work rules for their members

* The politicians know that if they cross the union leaders, their reelection plans are more complicated

* We fund the whole thing

If we can’t break this corrupt cycle, no other policy decisions we make will matter. Yes, it is that important.

The whole article is worth reading, for the "how" and "why" of it. How government employee unions went from being reasonable and fair, to being the exploiting extortionists they are today. It's why even FDR believed in limits on Public Employee unions.

The way it is now, it's legally sanctioned extortion. It must end, and the taxpayers must be the ones to insist that it does. The unions will still exist, and they won't be powerless. But they will have limits on their GREED and THUGGERY. It's time for them to have a reality check and join the rest of us.
     

End Union Thuggery and Mob Rule

I've said previously that Government Employee Unions are Ruining Us. And even the "Progressive" president Franklin Delano Roosevelt believed that government Unions needed restrictions, because of the potential for corruption. Public sector unions in particular become corrupt and destructive when they use their funding to buy political power, and turn the taxpayers into hostages. They need to be limited, before they destroy the foundations we are all standing on:

Capitol Chaos: Could Union Bill Be Passed Separately Tuesday?

MADISON - Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says his chamber of the Wisconsin legislature will convene to pass non-spending bills and act on appointments on Tuesday even if minority Democrats remain out of state in an effort to block a vote on Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill.

Could one of those bills be the union aspect of the budget bill, in a separate vote on Tuesday?

Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach told The Associated Press on Monday that Republicans could attempt to attach the part of the proposal taking away collective bargaining rights to an unrelated bill and pass it Tuesday. [...]

YES! I hope it goes through. It won't destroy the unions, just put them in their place. If the Union leaders had any sense, they would stop trying to destroy the taxpayers who make their jobs possible.

I've heard that a recall effort is being mounted for the missing Democrats who are "hiding", shirking their jobs. I hope the recall succeeds. They need to be made an example of what happens to cowards who shirk the jobs they were elected to do.


Also see:

Apocalypse Now: Wisconsin vs. Big Labor; Plus: More out-of-state union recruiting & another teacher speaks up for Walker; police order for AWOL Dems; America agrees: End public union monopoly

Teachers teaching kids it's okay to lie

Rank-and-file teachers speak truth to prog power
     

Another perfect example of how unionized government employees are dragging us all down

They just keep wanting more and more, as if taxpayers have bottomless pockets, even in a bad economy. Not to mention the lies. From Neal Boortz:



GOVERNMENT SCHOOL TEACHER GETS SCHOOLED

I love it! And not just any government school teacher .. a unionized government school teacher in New Jersey. Who did she get schooled by? The Governor, Chris Christie. Here's what happened. Governor Christie spoke to a small crowd in a church gymnasium the other day. (No .. .so far as we know the ACLU didn't raise a stink about a representative of government speaking in a building owned by a church.) The subject was budget cuts, property tax caps and other painful necessities that need to be done in order to get New Jersey's fiscal matters back in order.

Then it came time for questions. Unionized government employees don't like budget caps. Unionized government employees don't like caps on property taxes. Sooooo ... up to the mic steps union government school teacher Rita O'Neill-Wilson ... you know how I feel about women with hyphenated names ... make up your mind lady, either you're married or not! Anywaaaay .... Rita stands up and does not ask a question, she proceeds to complain about how much she is making (thanks to the taxpayers) and how she is entitled to more money. She tells the governor that if she were paid $3 an hour for the 30 children in her class, she would be earning $83,000 a year. She says she doesn't earn anywhere near that much (we will get to that claim in a second). Governor Christie interrupts her to remind her that she is earning a lot more if you include the cost of her benefits, which are generous considering her membership in a teachers union. Then Rita O'NeillhyphenWilson says that she has a master's degree and that she isn't being compensated for her education or her experience. Governor Christie's response? "Well, you know then that you don't have to do it." I love it! Christie for President! Remind this unionized government hack that NOBODY is forcing her to be a teacher and that she is perfectly free to sever the government ties and head out there to find another job that will pay her more. As if that response wasn't good enough, Christie slams one final nail in the coffin by reminding Rita O'Neill-Wilson that he would not be in this position of having to impose cuts in education if Rita's precious teachers union had agreed to a one-year salary freeze and a 1.5% increase in employee benefit contributions. Christie addresses Rita: "Your union said that is the greatest assault on public education in the history of the state ... That's why the union has no credibility, stupid statements like that."

If Rita is black this would make Governor Christie a racist. I'm assuming she's a woman, so he most certainly is a sexist.

Now - what about Rita hyphen-hyphen's income? Rita O'Neill-Wilson claims that a $83,000 salary is nowhere near what she earns. Too bad she works for the government and her salary is public record. Turns out that Rita O'Neill-Wilson earns a salary of $86,389 a year. On top of that, health benefits for family coverage in New Jersey can cost up to $22,000 a year. Add that to the cost of employing this woman, and Rita O'Neill-Wilson is costing the taxpayers well over $100,000 a year. On top of that, New Jersey ranks fourth in the entire nation in teacher pay. The average New Jersey teacher earns $63,154 a year, which is $13,000 higher than the per capita income in the state of New Jersey, which is $50,313. The median pay for New Jersey teachers with a master's degree is $66,212, which means that Rita O'Neill-Wilson is earning well above the average based on her education. Apparently that isn't good enough for the New Jersey teachers unions. Maybe they are just jealous of other unionized government workers. Police officers in New Jersey are the highest paid in the country, which an average base salary of $75,400 a year. The average firefighter earns $69,620 a year.

I know that there are many wunnerful government teachers out there. Rita isn't on that list.

We keep hearing about Wall Street Greed. What about Union Greed?