Pentagon Contractors Owe $7.7 Billion in Unpaid Taxes

A federal watchdog agency insists that its investigations clearly show the US government is facing serious long-term funding shortfalls, while federal contractors, doctors and medical suppliers, regularly receiving federal Medicare money, owe billions in unpaid taxes.


Earlier this month, Comptroller General David M. Walker of the US General Accountability Office opened one of his critical summary presentations to a Defense Department acquisition conference with: "The federal government is on a 'burning platform,' and the status quo way of doing business is unacceptable...."


He cited "past fiscal trends and significant long-range challenges; selected trends ... having no boundaries;" outlandish government funding demands due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina; outdated federal policies and practices; and finally, "rising public expectations" for results.


Within the past six years, said Walker, the government's long-term financial exposures in debt, health and Social Security have jumped 147 percent to $50.5 trillion. If this trend continues, said the GAO report, federal spending will need to be cut by 60 percent and taxes will have to double to balance the budget in the year 2040. To close off this sweeping gap, the economy would demand double-digit growth for every single year for 75 years, he said. More on the story.