Debt Collection Barring Delinquent Taxpayers From Receiving Federal Contracts and Loan Assistance

摘要

The General Accounting Office (GAO) is pleased to be here today to assist the Subcommittee in its consideration of H.R. 4181, a bill to amend Title 31, United States Code, to prohibit delinquent federal debtors, including delinquent taxpayers, from being eligible to contract with federal agencies. The bill would also generally preclude delinquent taxpayers from obtaining federal loans (other than disaster loans) or loan insurance or guarantees. GAO's remarks today are based on the work it did at the request of the Subcommittee on unpaid payroll taxes and associated tax penalties and its past and ongoing audits of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and federal acquisition and loan assistance processes. GAO supports the concept of barring delinquent taxpayers from receiving federal contracts, loans, and loan guarantees and insurance. In fact, in 1992, it said Congress should consider whether tax compliance should be a prerequisite for receiving a federal contract. However, with H.R. 4181, it is we believed there are significant implementation issues, particularly with respect to the federal acquisition process, and GAO offers recommendations for a phased- in implementation of the provisions and additional standards for when delinquent taxpayers should be barred. Its statement makes the following points: Taxpayers owe the federal government billions of dollars in delinquent taxes. For example, as GAO reported to this Subcommittee last August, as of September 30,1998, nearly 2 million businesses owed $49 billion in cumulative delinquent unpaid payroll taxes and 185,000 individuals responsible for the nonpayment of delinquent payroll taxes owed $15 billion in trust fund recovery penalties (TFRP) 2 The majority of these unpaid payroll taxes and associated TFRPs are not likely to be collected for various reasons, including the delinquent taxpayers' inability or unwillingness to pay.