Bill would force U.S. lawmakers to disclose owed taxes, have wages garnished

As senators debate tax legislation this month, Sen. Tom Coburn wants to make sure that senators themselves are paying taxes.

Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced legislation Wednesday night that would require U.S. lawmakers to disclose any money they owe in delinquent taxes and to have their wages garnished until the debt is paid.

"Taxpayers are fed up with those in Washington living under a different set of rules than the rest of America," Coburn said in a statement entered into the Congressional Record. "At a time when Congress may allow taxes to increase on some or even all Americans, Congress should not expect other Americans to pay more taxes when they are not even paying the taxes they owe under the rates they set themselves."

The Washington Post reported last week that workers in the House and Senate, possibly including lawmakers, owe an increasing amount to the federal government. The amount has risen 37 percent in two years, reaching $9.3 million last year, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service.

That's a small sliver of the $1 billion owed by all federal workers, but the amount owed by Congress's 18,000 workers has risen faster than the overall delinquent debt on the government's books. The total does not include debt that's already on an installment plan.

Coburn's legislation would require lawmakers to include back taxes owed on their annual financial disclosure statements, and trigger an automatic ethics investigation of any member who reports a tax debt.

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