TPA Presents the Taxpayer Turkeys of 2015!

The time of year is here again when working families all across the country get together and gather around the dinner table and celebrate Thanksgiving. Even though the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is thankful for many things, we are also looking out for taxpayers because there are plenty of turkeys causing trouble. So, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, TPA once again is highlighting our Taxpayer Turkeys of the year!  Be sure to listen to TPA’s podcast where we talk about this year’s turkeys (click here).

Here are the 2015 Taxpayer Turkeys!

Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.)

TPA’s first turkey is Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and his appetite for corporate welfare in the form of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank.  The bank’s charter originally expired this past June and free-market advocates rejoiced, if only for a brief moment of victory. Unfortunately, Rep. Fincher worked with House Democrats to move a discharge position through Congress to get Ex-Im back onto the House floor for a reauthorization vote. After the discharge petition was approved with bipartisan support, the House moved on another bipartisan vote to raise the charter from the dead. The only question now is whether the Senate will take up Ex-Im in any end-of-the-year legislation; taxpayers will have to wait till after Thanksgiving to see.  Even though both parties voted to bring back Ex-Im, Rep. Fincher led the charge to bring back the bank.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler

The second turkey is Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) Tom Wheeler. Chairman Wheeler made the list for several reasons. During his tenure over the last several years, Mr. Wheeler has presided over what has amounted to unprecedented intervention by the FCC with Internet regulations. First and foremost, Chairman Wheeler has been a staunch supporter of a government takeover of the Internet through net neutrality.  Net neutrality regulations were put into effect in June of this year, bit a court will ultimately decide what the FCC can do.  As part of net neutrality, Chairman Wheeler wants to use Title II regulations to implement the new regulations.  Title II ensures that the Internet will be treated as a utility and that will only guarantee more regulations and more government involvement.  This will discourage private investment and innovation as it relates to expanding the capabilities and infrastructure of the Internet. Chairman Wheeler has also pushed for expanding failed municipal broadband schemes, even going so far as to pre-empt state laws. TPA sees nothing but an over-stuffed agenda from Chairman Wheeler when it comes to excuses behind why the agency has expanded it’s reach over the Internet.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)

The next Taxpayer Turkey of 2015 list is another Republican member of Congress, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).  There are two key pieces of legislation that put him on the list with the other turkeys this year. First, H.R. 707. the “Restoration of America’s Wire Act”, or RAWA as it’s more commonly known. RAWA would make a federal ban of online gambling law.  TPA has been adamantly opposed to the bill. Aside from the implications of backdoor Internet regulations that RAWA brings, this is pure cronyism at its worst and all done for one casino magnate in Las Vegas, Sheldon Adelson, with the hopes of having the government shut down the competition. The other piece of legislation that solidifies his naming of a turkey is H.R. 2775, the “Remote Transactions Parity Act” (RTPA), which is just another form of an Internet sales tax. Imposing new taxes on Internet sales would be harmful the economy and cost consumers billions of dollars in new taxes.  Congress would be wise to stay away from passing the legislation. Rep. Chaffetz made a brief run for the Speakership and though taxpayers were fortunate he ended up abandoning that bid, he has yet to abandon these awful bills.  Even though turkeys can’t fly, this one may want to learn how and fly home before he does anymore damage.

2016 Democrat Presidential Field

The final taxpayer turkey from TPA this year is a gaggle of turkeys running for President in the Democrat primary: Gov. Martin O’Malley, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The three public officials vying for their party’s nomination made the list this year due to their horrendous collection of policy proposals they’ve been offering taxpayers in 2015. Secretary Clinton has plans for education reform that amounts to nothing more than spending increases. Gov. O’Malley is hoping to bring his record of tax increases to the White House, and admitted socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to increase spending and taxes that will cost taxpayers trillions of dollars. Taxpayers cannot afford the tax and spend agenda’s of any of these candidates and yet they keep promising to do exactly that: tax and spend.

The list of taxpayer turkeys could always be longer because day after day elected officials and government bureaucrats are doing things that should infuriate taxpayers. TPA hopes that the turkey dinners folks around the country enjoy this week are much more appetizing than what Washington has been offering up in 2015!