Having worked around DoD, been a contractor, and for a short period been a GS employee....I will offer these observations.
When you go into the data of back taxes...it’s not the lowly GS7 to GS10 that typically owes the taxes. Its usually the higher guys GS12 to GS15. I would suggest that once you get past a certain threshold....you aren’t paying as much attention to your tax situation as you should.
I know of a number of contractors who went off to Iraq and Afghanistan and made way more than the cut-off point of money made overseas. Some tossed in thousands at the last minute into 410k options or IRAs for their wife. Some guys just kept rolling IRS-related debt over and over....arguing over certain points, and just digging themselves deeper each year.
Finally, if you look at the pay-level for Pentagon folks in the DC area....a GS13 makes $100,000 a year after four years. That’s a heck of a lot more than the pay situation back in the late 1990s. Big tax changes since 1990s? No. We haven’t done that much to the tax program.
So, we come to the interesting piece....as long as a guy admits his issues, and tells the security audit folks about his woes...that usually fixes everything. It’s like admitting drug usage, an affair, or a DWI. They might suspend the clearance for a month to sort things out....but they tend to route the guy back into the system.
It’s so simple. Just eliminate about 60 percent of corrupt bloated government at all levels outside of those necessary in the military who would actually defend the homeland. Eliminate entire corrupt departments who spend tax payers money like drunken lotto winners etc.
It’s a win win for what’s left of middle America to have streamlined efficient country.