Government Tax Scofflaws:
Federal employees apparently owe some $2.8 billion in federal income taxes. Paul Caron at TaxProf reports that, measured in terms of the percentage of employees who are tax scofflaws, the worst agencies are the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (9.43%), the Government Printing Office (7.41%), and the Smithsonian (5.56%). Also worth noting, apparently 4.85 percent of Tax Court employees are tax scofflaws as well.
Remember the fable of the Log King and the Stork King?
How does the existence of tax scofflaws (and what exactly does that mean in this context?) demonstrate the "incompetence and apathy" of the IRS? And on what do you base your assertion? One of the few things more annoying than tax evaders (assuming these are not people who made the accidental mistakes that almost all taxpayers are likely to make at some point) are people who make grand sweeping claims on a subject they know nothing about.
And by the way, if you think the Tax Code is too complex to be understood by most taxpayers (an assertion that few would disagree with), that is CONGRESS's doing, not the IRS's. If you've got a problem, write to your congressman or woman and leave hardworking IRS employees who are doing the best they can in a difficult bureaucratic system alone.
The article on the WTOP website alternatively speaks of "employees who failed to file income tax returns," "employees who failed to comply with federal tax laws," and "delinquent employees," but the spreadsheet containing the breakdown instead refers to "all balance due and potential nonfiler accounts, regardless of status." It also states that "Data is obtained through an annual match of internal W-2 records." So I think I'll wait for analysis from a more informed source before I form an opinion. But you just go ahead and post; it's more entertaining.