1.6M businesses owe IRS big-time: $58B total

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2008 | by Richard Wolf

WASHINGTON -- More than 1.6 million businesses owe the federal government in excess of $58billion in delinquent payroll taxes, interest and penalties, including money withheld from employees' salaries, a congressional report says.

The numbers haven't changed much in a decade despite Internal Revenue Service enforcement, the Government Accountability Office found. In 1998, about 1.8 million businesses owed about $49billion.

Today, more debts are longstanding. Nearly 15,000 employers owe at least five years' worth of taxes, and nearly 500 owe for 10 years, the study says.

"Paying taxes isn't an option for hardworking Americans, yet these businesses act like they are exempt from this basic civic responsibility," Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who asked...