In order to work on the more sensitive government projects one must pass a background check. Often, part of that background check consists of an employment credit check. Workers who are in arrears for more than $5,000 are typically considered ineligible to work on the project. Common belief is that is someone is indebted he is more susceptible to employee theft or corporate espionage. The more sensitive the project the more likely that indebted contractor could be exposed to coercion or persuasion.
The Hill writes that about 83 thousand government workers who were cleared for security projects had an aggregate tax debt of nearly three-Fourths of a billion dollars. The figure listed i $730 Million. Five thousand of these employees had liens against their houses. I would imagine part of this debt is attributable to the economic downturn or Great Recession as it has come to be known. More than a few homeowners are still underwater after their houses inflated in valuable then dropped dramatically.
According to the article…”
The GAO first recommended in 2013 mechanisms to improve federal agencies’ ability to detect delinquent federal tax debts by those eligible for security clearances.
However, statutory privacy protections limited access to this information, the GAO said. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) had formed an interagency working group to explore creating an automated process similar to what the Treasury Department uses.
In June, the ODNI’s working group said due to the legal and logistical challenges of obtaining tax compliance information from Treasury, it was exploring other sources of information.”
