A leading congressman today asked three federal agencies to investigate the conduct of Blackwater, the private military contractor based in North Carolina.

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman said Blackwater may be violating tax, small businesss and labor laws, and he requested investigations from the Internal Revenue Service, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Labor, reports Joseph Neff.

Blackwater's director of public affairs, Anne E. Tyrrell, called Waxman's claims "completely without merit."

Waxman repeated the complaint he first aired in October, that Blackwater has evaded tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes by treating its security guards, pilots and support staff as independent contractors instead of employees.

Since then, Waxman said, his investigators have reviewed 20,000 documents and interviewed former Blackwater personnel and officials at the State Department, which hired Blackwater to protect its diplomats in Iraq and worldwide.

Companies must withhold Medicare and Social Security taxes for employees, but not independent contractors. Blackwater may have failed to pay or withhold up to $50 million dollars in taxes.

Read more after the jump.

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