Read more about the article Internet Gambling Ban: A Federal Power Grab on the States, and the Internet

Internet Gambling Ban: A Federal Power Grab on the States, and the Internet

Earmarks, Obamacare, telecommunications, and taxation are just a few issues that the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) deals with that are multi-layered and have an impact on many levels and affect many individuals. Internet gambling is another issue that has a multi-faceted impact; it affects consumers, taxpayers, states’ rights, the economy, and Internet commerce. TPA is concerned that any move to restrict Internet gambling at the federal level would be a detriment to states who may want to allow online gambling; and there is also the real possibility that any action taken at the federal level on this issue could lay the groundwork for increased regulatory power by the federal government, specifically regulations targeting the Internet. Now, a Nevada coalition of gambling companies are pushing for legislation that aims to “fix” the 1961 law and a new draft bill has surfaced online that may be the outline for a larger House bill on internet gambling coming soon. This legislation does contain carve-outs, and that could portend specific cases of special treatment to certain industry groups that may otherwise be impacted by an overall internet gambling ban. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is the key player at the federal level in this battle. Senator Reid is one of the most powerful people in Washington, and he represents a state that is ground zero for legalized gambling in the nation. He is no stranger to using his power to ensure that his state gets special treatment so long as it fits his interests and agenda. It’s not a coincidence that the same Senator who secured a $1, 117,125 earmark to study ‘Mormon Crickets’ may be looking for ways to pass a law that would ensure his state’s supremacy in the gambling industry.

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Coalition Letter Urging House Cosponsorship of Internet Tax Freedom Act Legislation

TPA Joins Coalition Letter Urging House Cosponsorship of Internet Tax Freedom Act Legislation

There is a clear problem with the federal government and it is a taxing and spending problem. The best solution to both of these problems would be to spend less and tax less. Unfortunately, Washington isn’t known for their great ideas, cue the Internet. One area that the government would like to extend their taxing authority is the Internet and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been actively fighting against this awful and harmful idea. In 2013, TPA was excited to see the bipartisan Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act introduced in the House by Judiciary Chair Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D – Calif.), Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio); and the introduction of the bipartisan Senate version from Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The House version permanently extends the moratorium on Internet access taxes and prohibits multiple and discriminatory taxation of Internet commerce. It has been fifteen years since the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA) was first enacted. The Internet has become one of the primary forces driving commerce in the global economy today. It’s impossible for anyone to have thought fifteen years ago as to the importance of the Internet in our everyday lives. This issue will be extremely important in 2014 as the moratorium expires in November. Yesterday, TPA was proud to be on a letter from the Internet Tax Freedom Act Coalition urging cosponsorship for the House version of the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act in the hopes that consumers can be protected from more new taxes on Internet access by state and local governments searching for new ways to generate revenue for themselves. To read the full letter, click ‘read more’ below

Continue ReadingTPA Joins Coalition Letter Urging House Cosponsorship of Internet Tax Freedom Act Legislation
Read more about the article TPA Joins Coalition Opposing Increased Spending in Exchange for Debt Limit Hike

TPA Joins Coalition Opposing Increased Spending in Exchange for Debt Limit Hike

This week Congressional leaders in both parties and both chambers are looking to raise the debt limit as the US has reached the debt ceiling yet again (last Friday to be exact). Though nothing has been passed, the deal on the table will raise the borrowing limit, which will in turn halt any chance of US default while also giving the Treasury power to borrow more money and drag the nation further into debt. However, the deal may also undo spending cuts (by restoring full cost of living adjustments, or COLAs, to all military retirees under age 62) that was part of the Ryan-Murray Budget deal just a few months ago. The solution to raising the debt limit shouldn’t be used as a way to increase spending or retroactively get rid of unpopular cuts. Congress and the White House should come to an agreement that reduces spending in order to raise the debt limit. The cycle of “bipartisan” deals that have increased spending need to be stopped. These deals have only kicked the can down the road, and left taxpayers holding the bill. To stop this cycle, TPA signed a coalition letter to Congress by Americans for Tax Reform and co-signed by Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against Government Waste, Coalition to Reduce Spending, Generation Opportunity (GenOpp), and National Taxpayers Union urging Congress to reject any deal that trades a raise in the debt limit in exchange for increased spending. To read the full letter, click 'read more' below

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Read more about the article Congress Watch: Unemployment Shenanigans Continue

Congress Watch: Unemployment Shenanigans Continue

(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.) It has been more than a month since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared that allowing the program that provided extended unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed to “lapse in December is unconscionable.” It was such a priority that there was no time to consider amendments that might actually help the economy grow and the long-term unemployed find work. Last week, after passing the Farm Bill Conference Report, the Senate considered yet another version of legislation to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. The third iteration of this bill (the first refused to pay for extending the program and the second “paid” for it in 2024) sought to pay for the $6 billion, three-month extension through an offset called “pension smoothing.” Under this plan, the amount that employers are legally required to place into their employee pension plans is reduced. This reduction increases companies’ taxable income which, in turn, increases federal tax receipts. This increase in tax receipts will cover the cost of extending the program.This plan might have passed. Unfortunately, Senator Reid resorted to procedural maneuvers to block Senators from offering any amendments to the bill. Senators who had better ideas about how the extension should be paid for or how to help the economy grow were cut off from offering their amendments. And, this refusal to consider other ideas stopped the bill from passing, for now. It is doubtful that this will be the last we hear of this issue. What is not in doubt is that if the Majority Leader would have let the Senate consider this bill without limitations back in January, we already would know its fate.

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Broad Coalition Urging End to Budget Gimmicks at the Pentagon through Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Account

TPA Joins Broad Coalition Urging End to Budget Gimmicks at the Pentagon through Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Account

Whether it’s adhering to spending limits set forth by sequestration, making meaningful reforms within the Department of Defense (DoD) budget, or taking a serious look at many of the programs and weapons systems that simply are not worth the taxpayer dollars funding them; Congress has seriously dropped the ball to reform Defense spending. And, the result has been a disaster for taxpayers. The Abrams Tank, Joint Strike Fighter and MEADS are just a few examples of missed opportunities to save money and make DoD more prepared for future conflicts. TPA was proud to be a part of a coalition effort focusing on the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account and how it is being used as a way to increase spending that DoD hasn’t requested. Last month TPA documented over $7 billion in earmarks in the Omnibus spending bill that the Pentagon never requested, and now TPA has signed on to a trans-partisan letter along with American Friends, Service Committee, Americans for Prosperity, Campaign for America’s Future, Campaign for Liberty, Center for Foreign and Defense Policy, Center for International Policy, Citizens Against Government Waste, Citizen Outreach, Coalition to Reduce Spending, Come Home America, Council for a Livable World, CREDO, DownsizeDC.org Inc., Foreign Policy in Focus, Freedom Works, Friends Committee on National Legislation, GOProud, Kitchen Table Patriots, Less Government, National Priorities Project, National Security Network, National Taxpayers Union, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, Peace Action, Peace Action West, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), Project On Government Oversight, R Street Institute, Republican Liberty Caucus, Take Back Washington, Taxpayers for Common Sense, USAction, US Labor Against the War (USLAW), Win Without War, and Women’s Action for New Directions to express collective “disappointment at the continued use” of the OCO account to “circumvent the very spending caps that Congress itself put in place.“ To read the full letter, click 'read more' below

Continue ReadingTPA Joins Broad Coalition Urging End to Budget Gimmicks at the Pentagon through Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) Account
Read more about the article New Study Exposes Flaws with Municipal Broadband

New Study Exposes Flaws with Municipal Broadband

Chattanooga, TN (courtesy, Wikimedia) There is no shortage of things that government thinks it can do better than the private sector and there’s no limit to what government will spend taxpayer dollars on as keenly demonstrated on a regular basis in Washington, D.C. One of the more egregious examples of this regularly occurring phenomenon is the funding of municipal broadband networks. These government-backed operations have been shown to be a waste of valuable taxpayer money with systems that have quality far less comparable to the same work provided by the private sector. A recent study by George S. Ford, PhD, of the Phoenix Center took a close look at these municipal broadband networks and found evidence to suggest that one of the supposed “benefits” of these government programs doesn’t actually exist. The study from Dr. Ford is a direct response to an earlier study that claimed municipal broadband services offered a better deal on the so-called “bundled packages” as compared with private companies. Dr. Ford found the study was comparing plans that weren’t alike and when he made the adjustments, both the public and private sector offered the similar plans at similar prices. And, another difference in price is that taxpayer-funded networks cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars while the private sector networks have ZERO cost to taxpayers. Municipal broadband networks are not only using taxpayer dollars to try and sell something for the same price as a private company, they’re actually selling a less desirable product overall. The New York Times published an article about Chattanooga’s EPB in an article titled “Fast Internet Is Chattanooga’s New Locomotive.” The New York Times painted a picture of a program that boasts some of the fastest Internet speeds in the world, right in rural America. TPA has researched EPB and the facts don’t support the claims by The New York Times (read here). The biggest problem with EPB is that there’s not enough people that use the service to warrant a taxpayer-funded program that remains years after it was first introduced. Most consumers in the city aren’t using (or will probably never use) the gigabit service so there is no reason why taxpayers should be funding the EPB after it has been around for four years and still isn’t providing a unique service in high-demand.

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Read more about the article F! -35: Taxpayers Footing Bill for Plagued Joint Strike Fighter

F! -35: Taxpayers Footing Bill for Plagued Joint Strike Fighter

F-35C Lightning II (courtesy Wikimedia) The last few months have been filled with compromise in Washington, which may seem like a good thing. But, for taxpayers, those compromises have translated into more spending and continued waste of taxpayer money. The need for reform couldn’t be clearer when looking at the $1 trillion Farm Bill, which does little to end subsidies and keeps in place an agricultural policy based largely on picking winners and losers instead of allowing the free market to work. Another painful example was the Omnibus spending bill that was passed last month where the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) uncovered more than $7 billion in earmarks. The Pentagon is filled with countless examples of some of the worst kind of waste that taxpayers have footed the bill for going back decades. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter gives new meaning to the word waste, yet there are still those defending (no pun intended) a project with problems that never cease to exist. The F-35 was created in 2006 and throughout the last eight years the program has been rife with delays and cost overruns that have maligned the integrity of the F-35 to the point where it has become known more for the problems associated with it, as opposed to what it is was originally designed to embody. A recently released report from the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation listed a variety of issues that detail just how wasteful and deficient this program has become less than ten years since it first took off.

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Coalition Letter Urging Patent Reform

TPA Joins Coalition Letter Urging Patent Reform

US Patent and Trademark Office (courtesy USPTO.gov) Patent reform is an issue that is rarely given as much attention in the media in comparison to health care, taxes, etc. However, it is extremely important and the current state of the US patent system is in need of reform, specifically when it comes to its litigation practices. President Obama discussed patent reform in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night stressing the importance of a viable structure for the patent system and TPA believes that the patent system must welcome reforms that encourage further creativity and strengthen the overall patent process. That is why TPA, along with American Commitment, American Consumer Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Center for Individual Freedom, Frontiers of Freedom, Property Rights Alliance, and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council signed a letter from Digital Liberty to the Senate Judiciary Committee calling attention to the work that needs to be done regarding patent reform. To read the full letter, click ‘read more’ below

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Read more about the article Communications Act Update: In Rewriting An Outdated Law, Consider Advancements in Technology

Communications Act Update: In Rewriting An Outdated Law, Consider Advancements in Technology

There are times when current law just can’t keep up with realities on the ground, when it comes to the Communications Act that was last updated in 1996, this is clearly the case. As technology has become more and more advanced for the last few decades, there remains little doubt that an overhaul is needed for the current rules in place. Late last year, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) announced plans to update the Communications Act and while they are taking the time to examine the law and ways to update it, they have also asked for input from anyone who has an interest. With that in mind, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance submitted the following remarks to those who are working on this effort. To see TPA's comment submission, click 'read more' below

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Read more about the article TPA Responds to the 2014 State of the Union Address

TPA Responds to the 2014 State of the Union Address

In his fifth State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated familiar themes that have resulted in a slow economic recovery over the past 5 years. In a new and reckless move, President Obama promised to use his Executive power to enact initiatives that Congress wouldn’t pass such as a move to increase the minimum wage for federal contractors. This establishes a bad precedent that circumvents the system of checks and balances. The biggest missed opportunity was that there was no mention of how to rein in government spending. In fact, the President seemed to suggest more spending on projects that could be classified as corporate welfare when noted that, “Federally-funded research helped lead to the ideas and inventions behind Google and smartphones. That’s why Congress should undo the damage done by last year’s cuts to basic research so we can unleash the next great American discovery – whether it’s vaccines that stay ahead of drug-resistant bacteria, or paper-thin material that’s stronger than steel.“ One of the most bizarre parts of the President’s speech was his attack on last year’s sequestration (automatic spending cuts). The President signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 which created sequestration. If the President didn’t like sequestration, he shouldn’t have signed it into law. Now, he has been left with no real plan to cut spending. President Obama mentioned Obamacare and the millions that have enrolled since the launch. Obama did not mention the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on a broken website or the millions of Americans that lost their healthcare insurance due to Obamacare. Millions of Americans found out the hard way last year that President Obama’s promise that “if you like your healthcare coverage, you can keep it,” was just a good talking point and not the truth.

Continue ReadingTPA Responds to the 2014 State of the Union Address