Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement after House Democrats voted to kill this week’s YouCut proposal, which would require the collection of unpaid taxes from federal employees. House Republicans voted unanimously in favor of this common sense proposal to save potentially $1 billion.

“Taxes should generally be kept low, but tax delinquency is certainly not the answer,” said Congressman Price. “Since their salaries come from the taxes paid by their fellow Americans, federal employees especially have an obligation to pay the taxes they owe. There is no excuse for Washington allowing tax dodgers to continue collecting a paycheck from taxpayers.

“I’m mystified by House Democrats’ refusal to support this common sense proposal to save $1 billion while simultaneously threatening families and small businesses with a massive tax increase. Congress has the power to cut spending and find savings in the federal budget at any time. Unfortunately, this Democrat majority clearly lacks the will. The country has asked Washington to tighten its belt in this tough economy, and Republicans are listening and providing positive solutions.”

Description of this week’s YouCut proposal

In 2008, the IRS reported that over 97,000 federal employees were delinquent on their federal income taxes, owing almost $1 billion in unpaid taxes. While all Americans have an obligation to pay the taxes they owe, since federal employees draw their compensation from the American taxpayers, they are especially obliged to pay their share of taxes. If not, the government should be allowed to terminate the employment of current federal employees and prohibit the hiring of future federal employees who are, after due process consideration, determined to have a “seriously delinquent tax debt.” Currently, only IRS employees can be terminated for non-payment of federal income taxes. This should be expanded to include all political appointees and civil service employees.