U.S. gov't workers owed $3.3 billion in delinquent taxes in 2013: IRS

Reuters
A man walks out of an Internal Revenue Services office after filing his taxes on Tax Day in New York, April 15, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government workers owed $3.3 billion in delinquent taxes last year but were still better at staying current with the Internal Revenue Service than the general public, the IRS said on Thursday. About 3.3 percent of federal workers were delinquent on their taxes in fiscal 2013, versus 8.7 percent of all U.S. taxpayers, the IRS said. The number of federal employees who failed to pay taxes on time last year rose 2.6 percent from 2012 to 318,000, the IRS said. This total includes civilian and military employees, as well as retirees. To combat tax evasion, the IRS annually collects and publishes data about delinquent taxes owed by lawmakers, judges and workers in federal agencies. About 700 congressional employees, which could include senators and representatives, owed $8.6 million in unpaid taxes last year, down from $10.9 million in 2012, the IRS said. The House of Representatives had a tax delinquency rate of 4.9 percent, while the Senate's rate was 3.2 percent. (Reporting by Patrick Temple-West; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Steve Orlofsky)