GAO Finds 10 Percent Of GSA Contractors Owe Back Taxes.

This article reports on the testimonies given by U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) officials before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, that about 10 percent of all contractors hired by the U.S. General Services Administration owed $1.4 billion in unpaid taxes as of last June 30. In the third hearing on delinquent contractors, GAO officials told the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that the agency does not routinely check whether prospective contractors have tax liens against them or have failed to pay the payroll taxes they have collected from employees, which is a felony. In one of 25 most extreme cases identified by the GAO, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman said that the agency found a contractor who was paid more than $1 million over the past two years, even though he owes more than $12 million in payroll taxes.