The Boston Globe: In letters to the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration, and the Labor Department, [House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry] Waxman, Democrat of California, questioned Blackwater's classification of its workers as independent contractors instead of employees. That designation, which the government has questioned in the past, allowed the company to obtain $144 million in contracts set aside for small businesses and avoid paying as much as $50 million in withholding taxes under State Department contracts, he said. Blackwater's classification scheme represents about 15% of the $1.25 billion it has received from the government since 2000. Contracts to Blackwater USA at FedSpending.org through Q2 2007.