Read more about the article Congress Watch: Baseline Budgeting and Phony Spending Cuts

Congress Watch: Baseline Budgeting and Phony Spending Cuts

If your take home pay were the same today as it was one year ago, would you complain to your boss about your cut in pay? If you were a federal program you could. Federal law requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to annually prepare forecasts of federal revenues and spending over a ten year budget window. These forecasts are guided by a series of assumptions set forth in the law. One of the assumptions is that spending on discretionary programs – those programs that Congress chooses to fund – automatically will increase by the amount of inflation from year to year. So, if a program was funded at $100 in fiscal year 2013 and the rate of inflation was 3%, the program’s baseline budget for 2014 would by $100 plus 3%, or $103. Both the President and Congress start the budget process using OMB’s and CBO’s baseline budget projections. This means that from the very beginning of the process, the federal budget assumes increased spending. Every single discretionary line item begins with a higher budget than it had the year before. According to Republicans on the House Budget Committee this bias toward increased spending added, over 10 years, $1.2 trillion to the discretionary budget baseline in 2013.

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Read more about the article TPA & ATR Send Letter to FCC on Process Reform and Donor Disclosure

TPA & ATR Send Letter to FCC on Process Reform and Donor Disclosure

The power of federal agencies has been expanding in some very troubling and controversial ways over the last several years and Taxpayers Protection Alliance has been deeply concerned with this trend and the examples that should give taxpayers great pause can be seen with the continued scandal involving Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) targeting, and increasing regulatory power from the Environmental Agency (EPA). Recently, another agency has been looking to increase their power over the public and in this case it appears to be an attack on first amendment rights. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is undertaking certain attempts at process reform and while there is some merit to aspects of what they are looking to reform, there is major problem. Hidden in the reforms is an attempt to force any outside organization (like TPA) who decides to submit public comments on FCC policy to disclose their donors. Many groups on all sides feel troubled by such a move that smacks in the face of free speech, and in a joint effort, TPA and Americans for Tax Reform sent this letter, cosigned by American Commitment, American Conservative Union, American Legislative Exchange Council - Task Force on Communications and Technology, Americans for Job Security, Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Center for Individual Freedom, Citizens Against Government Waste, Citizen Outreach, Digital Liberty, Freedom Works, Frontiers of Freedom, Hispanic Leadership Fund, Illinois Policy Action, Institute for Liberty, Institute for Policy Innovation, Less Government, The Maine Heritage Policy Center, MediaFreedom.org, National Taxpayers Union, Public Interest Institute, R Street, Rio Grande Foundation, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, TheTeaparty.net, individually Kevin McLaughlin and Bruce Weber urging the the FCC to drop this piece of process reform. There have been attempts in the past by Congress to regulate political/policy speech, and we’ve seen the IRS target opponents based on ideology. This appears to be yet another attempt at silencing discourse amongst those who may feel compelled to voice their opposition regarding a change in public policy at the federal agency level. This is something that definitely does not fall under the heading of “reform” and should be halted immediately. click 'read more' below to read the full letter

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Read more about the article Taxpayers Protection Alliance & RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity Release Spotlight on Spending Report

Taxpayers Protection Alliance & RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity Release Spotlight on Spending Report

Rhode Island State House (courtesy Wikimedia Commons) Today, Taxpayers Protection Alliance President David Williams is in Rhode Island to highlight some of the costly ways that the state government has wasted taxpayer money over the last year. In a joint project with the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, TPA has produced the Spotlight on Spending Report showing some of the more dubious examples of government spending in Rhode Island. There will be a press conference at 3pm at the state house, click 'read more' below to see the press release sent out earlier regarding this event.

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Read more about the article No Fooling Here! US Retains Title for Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World

No Fooling Here! US Retains Title for Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World

Today (April 1) is the day to take a minute and have a laugh or two and engage in some harmless practical joking with friends and colleagues. Unfortunately, today is also a day that for the last two years has been anything but a joke for consumers and businesses. Back in 2012, on April 1, Japan lowered their own corporate tax rate to 36.8 percent, down from 39.8 percent. The rate decrease left the “United States with the highest effective rate among developed countries: 39.2 percent.” The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been an ardent supporter when it comes to comprehensive tax reform, especially when it comes to reforming the corporate tax. There should be absolutely zero desire among anyone who cares about the growth of the US economy to retain the dubious distinction of ‘worlds highest effective corporate tax rate’ for even just another day, let alone another year. Last year, there was steady movement toward tax reform and the work done by former Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and current House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) to educate the public on solutions for tax reform was extremely important. That work paid off earlier this year when Congressman Camp released his tax reform plan that combined many ideas into a comprehensive solutions-based blueprint for overhauling the US tax code. While the plan wasn’t perfect, the proposed changes to the corporate tax were laudable goals deserving of praise. The plan lowers the corporate tax rate to 25 percent; a type of rate reduction that would bring us down from the number one slot we currently hold for highest effective corporate tax rate in the world to be competitive with the rest of the world.

Continue ReadingNo Fooling Here! US Retains Title for Highest Corporate Tax Rate in the World
Read more about the article Congress Watch: Obamacare and the The Save American Workers Act

Congress Watch: Obamacare and the The Save American Workers Act

Joe Jansen has a decade and a half of experience working as a staff member on Capitol Hill. He has worked in almost every legislative capacity in both the House and Senate. Congress Watch will be weekly feature for TPA.) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare,” has two rather significant mandates. The first – the individual mandate – requires all Americans to have what the Federal government deems “adequate” health insurance. The second – the employer mandate – requires “large employers” (those with more than 50 full-time employees) to offer a health benefits package deemed adequate by the Federal government to their full-time employees. Under the law, failure to heed the mandates will lead to tax penalties. We have recently witnessed the havoc caused by the individual mandate. Despite the President’s pledge that “if you like your insurance you can keep it,” and Obamacare’s language “grandfathering” certain health plans, millions of Americans lost their insurance and were forced to the health care exchanges to purchase new policies. While coverage of the individual mandate and the problems its implementation caused dominated, and continues to dominate, headlines, it is but a small sampling of what is to come. The fact is that only around 25 million Americans obtain health care coverage on the individual market. This week, the House will consider legislation that will help alleviate some of the problems associated with the employer mandate. The Save American Workers Act will simply change the definition of a full-time employee back to what we have known it to be for more than four decades – one who works 40 hours per week. This is a modest change that will save a lot of heartache.

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Read more about the article RED CARD! Taxpayers Are Sponsoring DC United Soccer Team

RED CARD! Taxpayers Are Sponsoring DC United Soccer Team

Washington D.C. has a penchant for giving taxpayers the shaft when it comes to funding things they aren’t asking for nor seem to have a need to pay for in the first place. One can just go down the list of federally funded programs in many of the government agencies and find millions; even billions of dollars going to pay for things that taxpayers probably would otherwise decline any rationale for federal funding. Enter DC United, the Major League Soccer team which calls the nation’s capital home. A few weeks ago the team finalized a deal with a new sposnor, Leidos, a federal contractor. The multi-million sponsorship deal for Leidos should raise eyebrows for taxpayers who believe that they shouldn’t be subsidizing advertising for a company that gets their money through federal contracts. There’s something wrong, yet oh so fitting to see a team based in Washington D.C. getting a taxpayer-funded sponsorship. Unfortunately, this is just another bad example of how taxpayers are sometimes taken advantage of in the sports arena. TPA has previously reported on the ineffective and yet quite costly military sponsorship of certain NASCAR drivers.

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Read more about the article Federal Agency Concerned With Waste Caught Wasting Taxpayer Money

Federal Agency Concerned With Waste Caught Wasting Taxpayer Money

There are times when federal agencies do the job they were supposed to do, unfortunately there are also many times when federal agencies do harm and cause pain to taxpayers. However, one thing is for certain: regardless of the manner in which federal agencies enact policy, there must always be oversight to ensure that taxpayer money isn’t going to waste on things that have nothing to do with the actual responsibilities of the agency and its employees. Recent examples at the General Services Administration (GSA) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) using taxpayer money for lavish conferences and pointless promotional projects were alarming, and rightfully maligned by citizens and politicians alike. Now newly uncovered evidence shows more taxpayer waste from yet another federal agency, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A recent report from the EPA’s Inspector General details reckless spending by employees who spent money on frivolous items such as gift cards, gym memberships, and hotel space for events. Here are some highlights from the IG report.

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Read more about the article MEADS Making a Comeback Via Ukraine Crisis?

MEADS Making a Comeback Via Ukraine Crisis?

When it comes to issues dealing with international conflict and foreign engagement, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) rarely stakes out political or policy ground regarding debates that give way during these situations. However, one debate that is surfacing as a result of what is happening in Ukraine is the importance of missile defense in today’s global landscape. TPA is no stranger to this issue and there should be genuine concern from taxpayers that some may be using a crisis halfway around the world to try to drum up supportfor a defense program, the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), that is so undesirable the bad reviews are not just domestic, but international. MEADS is an international missile-to-missile intercept program with the U.S. as the lead country funding the program. MEADS, which started in 2005, is a program so wasteful and so bad, that even the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibited the funding of the program in 2011, 2012, and in 2013. The problems with MEADS, and why it is aptly named the ‘Missile to Nowhere,’ are because of the prohibitive cost, scheduling problems, and bad performance. The fact that anyone is even discussing a possible resurrection of MEADS at a time when we need budget constraint at the Pentagon is alarming. There is another reason that MEADS should be nowhere in the conversation of how we go about reassuring our allies in Europe, during what is clearly a delicate time for global community. MEADS wasn’t just a failure on the domestic side, it was a folly overseas too as we attempted to sell the program to allies in Europe.

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Read more about the article Congress Watch: Crisis in Ukraine and Unemployment Benefits

Congress Watch: Crisis in Ukraine and Unemployment Benefits

(Joe Jansen has a decade and a half of experience working as a staff member on Capitol Hill. He has worked in almost every legislative capacity in both the House and Senate. Joe will be a frequent contributor to TPA’s blog.) This week, both the House and Senate return from week-long recesses. As the House works hard on naming a slew of post office buildings, most eyes will be focused on the Senate, which is expected to consider bills dealing with the situation in Ukraine and, extending the long-term unemployment insurance benefits that expired at the end of last year. Most Senators agree on the need to act on Ukraine and are very supportive of providing much-needed loan guarantees and imposing sanctions on certain Russian and Ukrainian officials, which the bill does. However, there is some disagreement on the inclusion of a section of the bill that makes changes to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And, some Senators would like to provide military assistance in the form of arms to the government of Ukraine. However, neither of these issues should stop the bill’s progress. After acting on the Ukraine bill and some of President Obama’s nominees, the Senate is expected to again consider legislation to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. The “temporary” federal program that pays unemployment benefits to individuals who have exhausted their state benefits expired at the end of 2013. Since then, the Senate has considered bills to extend them several times. These extension attempts failed because the costs were not offset and Senate Majority Leader Reid refused to allow the Senate to consider amendments that might actually spur economic growth and create jobs.

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