Some Say Non-Defense Contractors, Some Say Well-Heeled Tax Cheats

From Thursday's WaPo:

Thousands of federal contractors working for civilian government agencies together owe more than $3 billion in unpaid taxes, according to a report to be released today by a Senate subcommittee.

In one case, the owner of a firm that provides security guards to the Department of Homeland Security transferred payroll taxes withheld from workers' paychecks to a foreign bank account instead of the government and used the money to build a house overseas.

The owner of another company, one that supplies health care services to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services, piled up more than $18 million in unpaid payroll taxes while buying multimillion-dollar properties and luxury vehicles.

And one contractor that furnishes temporary workers to the Department of Housing and Urban Development has owed back taxes for nearly two decades, simply closing businesses and starting new ones when the bills get too high.

In all, 50 cases closely examined by auditors with the Government Accountability Office involved "abusive and potentially criminal activity." Even so, the contractors still got paid.

The report does not identify any of the roughly 33,000 contractors by name or characterize them by size or location.