Waxman investigates Blackwater employment practices.
House oversight committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman expanded his effort yesterday to investigate private security contractor Blackwater Worldwide, calling for a wide-ranging federal inquiry into the company's employment practices.
In letters to the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration and the Labor Department, Waxman (D-Calif.) questioned Blackwater's classification of its workers as "independent contractors" rather than employees. That designation, which the government has questioned in the past, has allowed the company to obtain $144 million in contracts set aside for small businesses and to avoid paying as much as $50 million in withholding taxes under State Department contracts, he said.
This is typical of anti-tax extremists that are fueling the right. Too many of these people are refusing to pay their fair share by whatever means possible. As a result of these tax cheats, over $300 billion goes uncollected every year, accounting for most of the budget deficit.
Blackwater is still under investigation for the shooting of 17 civilians in Iraq; the Justice Department is involved in that. The State Department already has them under tighter supervision and has now developed a comprehensive set of guidelines for them. Although how much good that will do is doubtful, given that they have routinely shown themselves to be above the law, like many other such lawbreakers and tax cheats.
They are allegedly receiving contracts set aside for small businesses; the fact that they are doing that is putting them in violation of Small Business Administration rules. What this tells me is that they are simply gaming the system in any possible way to suck billions of taxpayer dollars down the black hole, never to return. If people want to know why the economy is heading south, that is one reason for it -- billions of taxpayer dollars going into black holes.
Waxman also charged that Blackwater was violating Labor Department affirmative action regulations by withholding its employment records. In its statement, Blackwater said that its "classification of its personnel is accurate" and that it has "always been forthcoming about this aspect of its business with its customer, the U.S. government."
The Republican Party has not learned a thing from their defeat in the last election. The Culture of Corruption within the GOP is alive and well.