Yesterday’s Washington Post reported that Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in overdue taxes at the end of last year.  The article stated that 4 percent, of the 18,000 Hill workers owe money.

The article reported that:

“The average unpaid tax bill is $12,787 among the Senate’s delinquent taxpayers and $15,498 among those working in the House.”

I strongly suggest ‘you do not try this at home.’ 

The article further stated:

“IRS debt among government workers has surfaced repeatedly as a political issue over the years, most recently when Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced legislation this year to fire federal workers who owe back taxes unless they have entered into a payment plan. Eight Republicans co-sponsored the bill. No Democrats have signed on, and some have said firings would reduce the government’s prospects of being paid.”

This is further evidence that we have created a ‘political class’–a group of people given the power to make laws but not having the obligation to live under the laws they create.  The President, Congress, and federal workers are not under Social Security.  Thus, where is their motivation to make sure it remains solvent?  Obamacare has all sorts of benefits to government workers that the rest of us will never see.  For the ordinary citizen, non-payment of taxes is a serious problem, leading to large fines and possible seizure of assets. 

The cure for this is simple.  First of all, term limits would force legislators to live under the laws they pass.  Secondly, it’s time to begin to consider carefully how you vote in November.  A vote for any Democrat is a vote to continue the perks of the ‘political class.’  It’s time to vote out the members of Congress who have been there for more than six years and start again. There are exceptions to this idea– Paul Ryan, and Eric Cantor are good examples.   I am sure there are others, but my point is to remind you to please vote carefully.