Page 324 – Taxpayers Protection Alliance

DOD Auditor: Billions in Taxpayer Money Spent in Afghanistan Wasted

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:August 6, 2014
Post category:Defense Inspector General Michi Iljazi Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The public has been assured that when it comes to US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan that the “wars are winding down.” Unfortunately it seems that not only is that not the case, there also appears to be a real problem regarding the way in which taxpayer money is being spent. The latest example comes out of Afghanistan (America’s longest war) as the findings from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released a report about how much taxpayer money has been wasted rebuilding that country. According to John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, "Too often we've pushed taxpayer money out the door without considering if the Afghans need it and can sustain it."

Open Records Counsel: Chattanooga Utility EPB Wrongly Demanded Fees to View Public Records

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:August 5, 2014
Post category:Broadband Chattanooga EPB Earmarks Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Chattanooga, TN (courtesy Wikimedia Commons) Deborah Fisher is executive director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, an alliance of citizens, media and good government groups who work to promote government transparency. The city-owned utility of Chattanooga charged a University of Tennessee-Chattanooga student $1,767 to view its public records on advertising spending — an amount that the state’s Open Records Counsel said is not in line with the law. Despite counsel Elisha Hodge telling Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB) that it could not charge labor fees to compile records for a citizen to inspect, the utility stood by its decision in a story in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and tried to justify its action by saying the student was working with a national think tank. Student Ethan Greene on March 24 requested to inspect EPB’s advertising records from January 2012 to March 2014 including contracts, advertising expenditure checks and copies of emails including terms such as “television ad.” Greene told Tennessee Coalition for Open Government that he got involved because he was concerned about the cost of his EPB service and the huge amount of advertising that it seemed the utility was bombarding its customers with. He said he was a marketing-political science major, wanted to act upon his studies and connected with the libertarian group Taxpayers Protection Alliance that researches government waste while on campus.

Rooftop Solar Companies Cash In on Government Handouts

Post author:David Williams
Post published:August 4, 2014
Post category:Defense Energy Renewable Energy Solar Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

This article originally appeared on Townhall.com on July 24, 2014 You can’t help but hand it to them – rooftop solar companies have quite cleverly found their way onto the government’s gravy train. For years Washington has subsidized rooftop solar installations for customersin the form of the Solar Investment Tax Credit, which allows homeowners who install rooftop solar panels to receive a tax credit of up to 30 percent of the cost. The subsidy has been one of the many ongoing ways in which the feds insert themselves into the energy marketplace. And while it has hampered efforts to achieve real energy independence in the U.S., and has therefore caused real harm to our economy, it nevertheless has met a legitimate need for homeowners desperate for some relief from high energy costs. But rooftop solar companies – most of which, like SolarCity, Corp., are political connected and favored – have created a scheme to claim the tax credit for themselves. These companies discovered that if they lease the rooftop solar systems to homeowners, the companies themselves can claim the federal tax credit as well as all state and local incentives.

IP Plays an Important Role as Key Economic Driver

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:August 1, 2014
Post category:Copyright Ex-Im Bank Intellectual Property Michi Iljazi Patents Senate Taxpayers Protection Alliance

US Patent and Trademark Office HQ in Alexandria, VA August is here and that means another vacation for Washington politicians. This month-long break comes at a time where there is quite a bit of work for them to do. One issue that has languished in Congress for quite some time is reforming the patent system and ensuring protection of intellectual property (IP). Protecting intellectual property should be a priority for the Federal Government, and while the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is no fan of big government, on this issue even the Founding Fathers knew that protecting intellectual property was important enough to include it in the Constitution. All one needs to do is look at how large a role IP plays in commerce, and not just in the United States, but also around the world. One of the biggest misconceptions is that protecting IP is a form of corporate welfare. TPA is acutely aware of the real definition of corporate welfare considering TPA’s tireless work to get rid of the Export-Import Bank and other blatant corporate welfare programs. But, protecting intellectual property ensures that creators of works are safeguarded against those who wish to steal their creative pieces.

Read more about the article BREAKING NEWS: Watchdog Group Uncovers Billions in Earmarks in both the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Bills (UPDATED)

BREAKING NEWS: Watchdog Group Uncovers Billions in Earmarks in both the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Bills (UPDATED)

Post author:David Williams
Post published:July 31, 2014
Post category:Appropriations Congress Defense Earmarks House Michi Iljazi Senate Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

BREAKING NEWS: Watchdog Group Uncovers Billions in Earmarks in both the House and Senate Defense Appropriations Bills ALEXANDRIA, VA – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) uncovered hundreds of earmarks in both the House and Senate versions of the 2015 Defense Appropriations bill. In the House (click here), there were 137 earmarks worth $8,176,255,000. In the Senate (click here), there were 190 earmarks worth $11,718,149,000. All of the earmarks listed were spending items not requested by the Pentagon. This is yet another disappointing example of Washington politicians spending taxpayer money in circumvention of established budgetary procedures. The waste could be seen in such familiar programs like $224,000,000 added by the House for the F-35; $120 million added by both the House and he Senate for the Abrams Tank; and $80 million for the Littoral Combat Ship. For a list of the earmarks that appeared in both chambers, click here! Click 'read more' below to see the full list of earmarks

The Tennessee EPB Failure is Looking to Expand to Georgia

Post author:David Williams
Post published:July 29, 2014
Post category:Broadband Chattanooga EPB Earmarks Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Earlier this month, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported the city-owned utility system, the Electric Power Board (EPB), wants to expand its gigabit Internet offering beyond the city limits. According to the newspaper, EPB may even move across state lines, into Georgia. Under current Tennessee law, EPB “is only allowed to offer fiber optic service to customers who also get their electricity from EPB.” In other words, the scope is responsibly limited. The EPB can appeal to the Federal Communications Commission to go around that law, and did just that last week. A decision by the FCC to circumvent the law would be bad for taxpayers, could harm the local economy and would also go against state lawmakers’ clear preference that EPB concentrate on providing service to the citizens of Chattanooga. EPB’s plans are the height of hubris. By all accounts, the utility has attracted only a relative handful of subscribers to its gigabit service – perhaps because when it set the original sky-high price of $349.00/month for the service, President Harold DePriest said EPB chose the rate simply “because we can.” So, instead of market studies, business modeling or product testing, EPB just did things because they could. That could very well be the same mentality at play now. Is there any indication that consumers in surrounding cities want EPB’s service or does EPB just want to expand because they think they should be allowed to?

TPA Signs Coalition Letter to Congress Warning Against Breaking Spending Caps, Again

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:July 28, 2014
Post category:Appropriations Budget Congress House Michi Iljazi National Taxpayers Union Senate Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Now is the time of year when a flurry of appropriations bills hit the floor in the House and Senate and marathon voting takes place so that politicians can make quick work of spending taxpayer money before heading out of town for their six-week vacation. TPA has been watching the appropriations process over the last few months and are mindful of the itch that Congress gets to spend more money than they limit themselves in writing. Taking that into account, TPA signed onto a letter sent by National Taxpayers Union, joining 60 Plus Association, American Commitment, Americans for Tax Reform, Campaign for Liberty, Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Coalition to Reduce Spending, Competitive Enterprise Institute, The Conservative Caucus, Inc., Cost of Government Center, Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, DownsizeDC.org, Freedom Action, FreedomWorks, R Street Institute, Republican Liberty Caucus, Restore America’s Mission, Rio Grande Foundation, and Taxpayers for Common Sense calling on both the House and Senate to abide by budgetary limits they set in both Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) and subsequently modified by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 aka the “Ryan-Murray" deal. It is bad enough that they broke the limits set forth by the BCA once, but to do so again would be yet another insult to taxpayers at a time when they are struggling to limit their own personal spending habits. Click 'read more' below to see the full letter

FCC Still Picking Winners and Losers in Spectrum Auction

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:July 25, 2014
Post category:Michi Iljazi Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been dogged in its fight against forms of cronyism that aim to give preferential treatment to certain groups or interests when it comes to issues including energy, defense, and telecom. One area in telecom where this has been blatant is in the upcoming spectrum auction (read previous TPA blogs on spectrum here and here) being handled by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC is sitting on approximately $20 billion worth of spectrum (see TPA infographic here) that should be sold. But, instead of keeping the sale process open and transparent, it appears the FCC is continuing their preferred policy of picking winners and losers in terms of who will get to bid for the valuable spectrum. The latest spectrum and crony capitalism news comes from Todd Shields and Jonathan D. Salant in a Bloomberg story earlier this week.

Transportation Bill Means Temptation for Earmarks

Post author:David Williams
Post published:July 24, 2014
Post category:Congress Earmarks Senate Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

This article originally appeared in Human Events on July 23, 2014 It’s often cliché to say that history repeats itself. But when it happens over and over again, cliché becomes reality. History is currently repeating itself when it comes to transportation funding and earmarks. The Transportation Trust Fund is set to run out in August and some members of Congress are anxious to exploit that issue to allow the return of unfettered pork spending. Earlier this year Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) suggested bringing back earmarks. Now former Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas), who is vying for his old congressional seat, has joined Sen. Durbin in publicly supporting the return of earmarks, as well. This comes as no surprise considering that Sen. Durbin and former Rep. Tiahrt were major appropriators during the heyday of runway spending. Unfortunately, the transportation bill just may be the vehicle that opens the door to allow the return of earmarks.

Rep. Blackburn is Right: FCC Shouldn’t Force Government Broadband on States

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:July 22, 2014
Post category:Broadband Earmarks Internet Michi Iljazi Regulation Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has been very busy over the last few months dealing with spectrum and net neutrality. They have also been busy with another issue, government broadband. In April, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made his intentions clear to ensure that government broadband would not only be here to stay, but that under his FCC, would flourish. The latest development that began much of the renewed discussion was an amendment that passed the House last week. The amendment was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) meant to rein in the FCC’s power in their attempt to force states into government broadband expansion. Reacting to Rep. Blackburn’s amendment, there are some who chimed in on this issue siding with Wheeler saying that expansion is important and that critics are wrong. For example, Brian Fung in the Washington Post wrote last week warned of a possible ban on “public internet.” That’s nonsense because nobody is trying to ban anything from the public. The real problem here is that government broadband is a lackluster substitute for a private sector product that not only works better, but actually ends up costing less for the consumer (and taxpayer).