White House Aides Owed More Than $800G in Back Taxes

President Obama might want to audit his own staff as he sets out to close the deficit. Turns out he could shake them down for close to a cool million in back taxes.

According to a Washington Post analysis of IRS data, a total of 41 White House staff members owed back taxes worth more than $831,000 at the end of 2009.

The data did not show how much of that has since been repaid, if any, but it was just a piece of the $1 billion owed by federal workers across the country.

Some top-level Obama nominees ran into tax problems when the president was assembling his staff in early 2009. Former Sen. Tom Daschle's nomination to head Health and Human Services was derailed over a litany of tax problems. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner cleared confirmation in spite of the fact he once had to pay $34,000, plus interest, in back taxes to the IRS.

The latest IRS data does not name the individuals who owed money last year, but there are plenty more beyond the White House.

Inside the Treasury Department, which houses the IRS, 1,204 employees owed more than $7.6 million.

Three workers at the Office of Government Ethics owed $75,304. At the Department of Homeland Security, 4,856 workers owed in excess of $37 million.