Read more about the article What ‘A Beautiful Mind’ Can Teach Us About Corporate Tax Reform

What ‘A Beautiful Mind’ Can Teach Us About Corporate Tax Reform

A key scene in the 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind” portrays the famous economist John Nash devising a new strategy to pick up girls and in the process developing a core tenet of game theory, which would later lead him to win a Nobel Prize. This theory posits that in any sort of strategic interaction, the best outcome of the group depends on the choices of all the players, not just the optimal choice of one player. While corporate tax reform is hardly as alluring as picking up girls at a bar, the film’s scene is an apt metaphor for the dynamics and challenges of the tax reform discussions going on today. Most companies agree that the statutory tax rate should be lowered to 25% in exchange for cutting loopholes and subsidies. They also are seeking out the most attractive deal possible. But compromise on a plan is a Sisyphean challenge because the best deal for one company may only come at the expensive of another company’s loss. Because it is so hard to make every stakeholder happy in the negotiation process, the solution to date has been to effectively do nothing.

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Read more about the article Unnecessary Defense Acquisitions are a Costly Mistake for the Pentagon, Taxpayers

Unnecessary Defense Acquisitions are a Costly Mistake for the Pentagon, Taxpayers

This article originally appeared on Townhall.com, March 17, 2014 It may sound like a fairy tale, but once upon a time the federal government operated in the black, running surpluses that allowed the Department of Defense (DoD) to make significant investments in experimental or future replacement equipment and weapon systems, without drawbacks, oversight or taxpayer scrutiny. Unfortunately, the clock has struck midnight and the budgetary fairy tale is long over. There is no question that investing in our nation is important. However, we are no longer living in the lap of defense spending luxury and taxpayers aren’t willing to turn a blind eye to wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary programs. And, regardless of the financial situation of the country, it makes no sense to continue to use taxpayer money on outdated and severely flawed programs. According to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) defense acquisitions report, the Pentagon is set to spend $1.5 trillion to acquire 85 separate weapons programs in the coming years. The GAO also estimates that those 85 programs will experience a projected $411 billion in cost growth and average delays of 27 months. When it comes to consensus in Washington, there is often little. However, in a time where budget restraint should be the norm, billions of dollars of wasteful defense spending is not something either Republicans or Democrats are able to ignore. Realizing the federal government has been getting away with highway robbery of taxpayers, Representatives Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) are leading the charge to completely overhaul defense acquisitions. It’s time the Pentagon stop gambling billions of dollars on fantasy defense programs that will have little to no real impact on improving the systems our warfighters need to meet today’s threats, and start taking real reform seriously.

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Read more about the article Congress Watch: Obamacare and the “Doc Fix.”

Congress Watch: Obamacare and the “Doc Fix.”

(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 Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) was enacted as part of a deficit reduction law in 1997. The SGR formula contains costs by linking Medicare payments to physicians with overall economic growth. If payments in one year go over a target rate, then physician payments the next year are decreased. The SGR formula worked for a few years. But, when economic growth slowed and health care costs rose dramatically, it became a recipe for disaster. In every year since 2002, the SGR formula has called for a reduction in Medicare physician payments. Only once has that reduction actually been allowed to occur. Beginning in 2003 Congress began passing legislation to prevent the cuts. These stopgap measures, referred to as the “doc fix” have cost around $150 billion so far. Near universal agreement exists that the formula is flawed. Physicians and others have been calling for a permanent fix for a decade or more. Health care providers are faced with uncertainty each time a temporary fix is set to expire. Congress will not allow a payment reduction to occur because that would encourage doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients, threatening seniors with a loss of access to medical care. While each of the short-term fixes is expensive, it is easier to continue kicking the can down the road than to resolve the issue once and for all.

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Read more about the article No Pot of Gold for Businesses or Consumers if Ireland Moves Ahead on Plain Packaging

No Pot of Gold for Businesses or Consumers if Ireland Moves Ahead on Plain Packaging

President Obama & Taoiseach Enda Kenny The annual celebration of one of the most famous Saints is nearing, and along with the festivities that many will enjoy, there is much to celebrate about the land that gives us the greenest of yearly holidays, St. Patrick’s Day! Ireland is to be commended for their foresight to encourage commerce and business through free-market principles, and it shows with each company that makes a move to do business in the land of Saints and Scholars. Unfortunately, for all the pro-business, pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer aspects of Ireland and their system of commerce, there is something brewing that may be cause for holding off on the weekend festivities. There appears to be a movement toward adopting an anti-business, anti-consumer, and anti-free market tactic known as ‘plain packaging’; and TPA is gravely concerned and deeply disappointed with this development. The impact felt by the United States business community at large by plain packaging is particularly important considering the timely visit to the US by the leader of the Irish government that began Thursday. Taoiseach Enda Kenny (Ireland’s Prime Minister) arrived yesterday and plans to meet with the President, Vice-President, and Congress thru the weekend. The trip is focused on several issues, including Ireland’s reinvigorating economic outlook.

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Read more about the article Son ‘Setting’ on the Facts in Broadband Pitch to US Chamber of Commerce

Son ‘Setting’ on the Facts in Broadband Pitch to US Chamber of Commerce

Tuesday, Masayoshi Son (CEO of SoftBank, and Chairman of Sprint), spoke before an audience at the United States Chamber of Commerce to discuss the state of wireless broadband quality in the United States. His pitch was simple, let me make it faster. Mr. Son’s appearance was aimed at arguing for a T-Mobile-Sprint merger in the hopes of creating more competition, and thus lower prices for consumers. Full disclosure, I was in the audience yesterday and listened to the entire presentation from start to finish and though the style of Mr. Son’s delivery certainly struck the right tone, the problems came through when the substance of what he said was put to the simple test of what could hold up as credible. Much of Mr. Son’s grand vision for faster Internet speeds came prepackaged with data that suggested that the U.S. was “falling behind” when it came to Internet speeds around the world. However, when looking at the “State of the Internet,” a report released by Akamai late last year, shows that the U.S. isn’t falling behind. In fact, when you look at individual states, Internet speeds are averaging higher than most countries around the world.

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Read more about the article New Report Gives More to Reason to Be Wary of LEED Standards

New Report Gives More to Reason to Be Wary of LEED Standards

Here we go again. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been writing about the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards for a long time. In what seemed to big news, there was a report earlier this year that the Washington, D.C. area has led the nation in LEED certification. This was according to stats based on a per-capita ranking. But, a new report shows that being at the top on a LEED-based list may not be as prestigious or beneficial as many would have you believe. Research by the Environmental Policy Alliance found that the city that has the most LEED-certified buildings doesn’t necessarily make it the most efficient. In an analysis of initial energy use data, the free-market organization concluded that the buildings in DC with LEED certification are actually using more energy. This is in direct contradiction to the argument that LEED proponents have been giving for years. The entire system is based upon the goal that being LEED certified is all about being a more energy efficient. The report, released by the Environmental Policy Alliance at the end of February, certainly dispels the myth that the business model used by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the private environmental group responsible for LEED, actually works. The report also appears to confirm a recent analysis by the Washington Examiner about LEED buildings in DC that was published earlier this year.

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Read more about the article Congress Watch: The Responsibly And Professionally Invigorating Development Act Cuts Red Tape & Bureaucracy

Congress Watch: The Responsibly And Professionally Invigorating Development Act Cuts Red Tape & Bureaucracy

(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.)Progress on most issues does not occur by leaps and bounds. It is often a series of small steps. The steps are not sexy and most major news outlets do not really consider them all that newsworthy. But, these small steps can make a big difference. By passing the Responsibly And Professionally Invigorating Development Act (RAPID), the House took a small step forward in cutting government red tape and bureaucracy that frustrates and delays many construction projects. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) declared that the Federal government cares about the environment. And, because it cares, anytime it is involved in a project, it will work with state and local governments to assess the project’s environmental impact. When federal money is provided for a project or a federal permit or license is required, an agency must review the project (a “NEPA Review”) and produce one of three documents. The most problematic is the environmental impact statement (EIS). Among other things, the EIS requires the “lead agency” to “scope” out a project, identifying all stakeholders and significant issues that will arise. It then requires the agency to consider and evaluate alternatives. Each alternative must be explored in detail and the EIS must explain why one alternative is better than the other. Before finalizing the EIS, the agency must seek comments from stakeholders and other agencies and respond to these comments in the final document. According to the Judiciary Committee’s report accompanying the RAPID Act, a study was conducted between 1998 and 2006 of publicly available EIS documents. It found that “the time to prepare an EIS . . . ranged from 51 days to . . .18.4 years. The average time for all Federal entities was 3.4 years” and “EIS completion time increased by 37 days each year.” Delays in construction projects cost more than time. These delays can add significant costs to projects and sometimes kill projects altogether. Most importantly, these delays slow economic growth and cost jobs.

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Read more about the article TPA Signs Coalition Letter Applauding Chairman Camp’s Efforts on Tax Reform

TPA Signs Coalition Letter Applauding Chairman Camp’s Efforts on Tax Reform

There are many issues that the Taxpayers Protection Alliance is involved with, but one of the key issues that captures much of the attention and work is tax reform. TPA has done extensive writing on the Corporate Tax and it was great to see that House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) included Corporate Tax reform in his recent tax overhaul that was released last week. This week, TPA joined a coalition letter (posted on the website of the House Ways and Means Committee) thanking Chairman Camp for his efforts on tax reform and specifically the corporate rate. There is still a great deal of work to be done to make the tax code simpler for all working Americans, but the effort put in by Chairman Camp is well deserved of gratitude as he continues to work towards major tax reform. To read the letter, click 'read more' below

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Read more about the article Retransmission Consent, STELA Reauthorization, and the Future of Outdated ’92 Cable Act Soon to Take Center Stage on Capitol Hill

Retransmission Consent, STELA Reauthorization, and the Future of Outdated ’92 Cable Act Soon to Take Center Stage on Capitol Hill

The storms that have been brewing in Washington, DC over the last several weeks have not been limited to just the weather. There are dozens of issues that elected officials are looking to take on in the coming months and with everything on the table. One issue in particular that will be taking center stage is retransmission consent. This term may not seem familiar or important, but many Americans have felt the wrath of retransmission consent when there is a threatened blackout of a sporting event because of a breakdown in contract negotiations between a network and a cable or satellite provider. Retransmission consent shows us why the video marketplace, like several other key areas in the market, is in dire need of an update when it comes to the rules and guidelines in the arena. The issue will be headed for hearing rooms on Capitol Hill very soon and it is important to understand why the update is needed in the first place. The year 1992 was 24 years ago. One of the more popular movies was The Mighty Ducks and Boyz II Men’s End Of The Road was a popular song. That same year the Cable Act was passed. The Cable Act of 1992 gave broadcasters an advantage in negotiations with monopoly cable providers, granting broadcasters the right to choose between guaranteed carriage or insisting that multichannel video programming distributors (cable and satellite providers) obtain and pay for a station’s consent to retransmit the station to local subscribers. There is no doubt much has changed in movie and music taste in the more than two decades since. Much has also changed in the cable industry. In fact, cable television is just one of many options to have video content delivered. It is time for the Cable Act of 1992, which contains an inherit advantage for broadcasters due to rules that were put in place at a time when so much was different in the video marketplace than what exists today, to be updated to fit the standards and components of today’s technologies and market forces. The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) was passed by both chambers of Congress in 2010 and renewed the blanket license allowing “satellite operators to deliver distant signals to subscribers who cannot get a viewable signal from their local affiliate.”

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Read more about the article President Obama’s Budget: A Month Late and Trillions Dollars Short of Fiscal Responsibility

President Obama’s Budget: A Month Late and Trillions Dollars Short of Fiscal Responsibility

TPA Responds to the White House FY 2015 Budget Release: Today, President Obama unveiled his Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 budget. The FY 2015 budget is a month late (which has become a tradition for this President) and trillions of dollars short of fiscal responsibility. The President continued his preference for spending more with a budget proposal that spends $3.9 trillion, which is an increase from the $3.8 trillion the federal government is planning to spend in FY 2014. The White House budget aims to confiscate more money from taxpayers and small business owners to fund a laundry list of big government programs disguised as “stimulus” and “infrastructure.” These new spending priorities are sure to be filled with waste and inefficiency, much like many of the programs funded by the 2009 stimulus package... Even though this is only the opening salvo in the budget war for this year, it is instructive to see that the President clearly doesn’t recognize the fiscal reality of a $17 trillion debt and an economy that remains stagnant. There is no way for taxpayers and entrepreneurs to succeed unless the White House gets serious on spending restraint and tax reform. This budget does neither and with no meaningful offers to cut spending, overhaul the tax code, or reform entitlements, this budget is simply a way to double down on the failed policies of big government spending that have been a hallmark of the Obama Presidency. There should be a clear path to fiscal responsibility through meaningful spending reductions and tax reform. That is clearly not the approach from this White House based on what we have seen today. For the full response, click 'read more' below

Continue ReadingPresident Obama’s Budget: A Month Late and Trillions Dollars Short of Fiscal Responsibility