Pay up, feds

The IRS today reported that federal employees owe more than $3 billion in taxes they failed to pay in 2008. More than 275,000 feds and retirees account for the $3 billion shortfall. The IRS tracks this number annually and, for the first time in several years, it has decreased. In 2007, feds failed to $3.58 billion in taxes.

The Treasury Department, which houses the IRS, has the best tax compliance record, and the Postal Service takes the sour cake with the highest rate of failure to pay. As if postal workers didn't have enough to deal with! USPS did demonstrate significant improvement, though. In 2007, more than 54,000 Postal Service employees failed to pay over $407 million. Last year, 28,913 USPS workers owe $297 million.

Here is a link to the complete spreadsheet of data, courtesy of the Washington radio station WTOP.