Read more about the article Guest Commentary: Rep. Radel Should “Donate” to Taxpayers

Guest Commentary: Rep. Radel Should “Donate” to Taxpayers

(Lisa M. Hazlett is a guest blogger and the President of Hazlett Consulting in Florida) While I support the legalization of drugs because of over criminalization, it is currently against the law to buy cocaine. Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) pled guilty and was given one year probation. As "punishment," he will seek treatment at a rehab facility. I am appalled by the obvious pass handed down by the judge and by Rep. Radel's arrogant decision to accept his salary for a leave of absence during which he will be treated for cocaine addiction. Most people, given the same circumstances, would receive a much harsher sentence and likely not receive compensation during a jail or rehab stay. Further, it is an abuse of taxpayer dollars for Rep. Radel to donate to charity the salary given to him by the hardworking people of Florida. Rep. Radel, or any member of Congress, should not receive any special consideration or lenience just because he is an elected official. Moreover, he (and they) should not be paid with taxpayer money for any time out of service as a result of committing a crime. The fact is that all elected officials are public servants who should be held accountable by the people who elected them. The government serves the people, not vice versa. The People should demand that Rep. Radel decline his salary during his treatment and return the taxpayer dollars to the Treasury rather than donating it to charity.

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Read more about the article Senators Aiming for Taxpayer Dollars Through Defense Authorization Bill

Senators Aiming for Taxpayer Dollars Through Defense Authorization Bill

As the end of 2013 nears, Congress has several pieces of major legislation that have yet to be fully resolved and one of those is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA serves as the authorization for funding for the Pentagon and the Senate is working on getting their version of the bill through final passage before the Thanksgiving holiday. The House of Representatives passed their own NDAA this past summer and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) was playing careful attention to everything that was added and removed during the entire legislative process and the same will be done as the Senate considers their version of the legislation. There are several issues of concern that taxpayers need to be aware of as this bill makes its way through the Senate and many of these issues could prove costly if action is not taken to oppose efforts to continue the trend of wasteful spending that has been plaguing all of Washington. Appropriations bills have long been used by members of Congress as vehicles for their own special projects and funding measures and the NDAA is no exception. However, in one of the ultimate insults to the integrity of the process and intelligence of the voters, Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) will be seeking to use this defense-funding bill to jam an Internet sales tax into law. This isn’t the first time that the NDAA has been used as a possible pathway for an internet sales tax, but after the vote on the Marketplace Fairness Act earlier this year in the Senate, TPA is very unsettled by this development and we urge strong opposition to any amendment that would sneak in an internet sales tax into a defense authorization bill.

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Read more about the article House Republicans Should Reject Senate Farm Bill’s Fiscal Train Wreck

House Republicans Should Reject Senate Farm Bill’s Fiscal Train Wreck

This article originally appeared in Townhall.com on November 15, 2013 As is par for the course in recent years, House conservatives again find themselves the vanguard against big-spending machinations from the Executive Branch and the Senate. The latest front in this battle is the Farm Bill, which currently sits in a conference committee on Capitol Hill. Committee members are tasked with reaching a compromise between the House and Senate versions of the bill. And, compromise in Washington, D.C. usually means more spending. Though neither version is perfect, it’s the Senate Farm Bill that would bankroll billions in mandatory spending, doing little to curtail wasteful subsidies and locking into place the status quo for another five years. The House bill, on the other hand, contains deep cuts to food stamps and, more importantly, makes subsidy spending discretionary rather than mandatory. The Senate bill would cut food stamps by a mere $4.5 billion (in addition to $11 billion in already agreed-upon cuts), while the House proposal cuts an extra $40 billion - ten times that amount. For conservatives, that's certainly a better place to start. Senate Democrats are reportedly insisting they will not agree to cuts above $10 billion, so Republicans in the conference committee are tasked with holding the line.

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Read more about the article TPA Travels to Uganda for Taxpayer Conference on Taxation and Spending

TPA Travels to Uganda for Taxpayer Conference on Taxation and Spending

Joseph Kasibante, President of National Taxpayers Protection Organisation in Kampala, Uganda holds a press conference with TPA President David Williams I have spent the last 7 days in Kampala, Uganda with Joseph Kasibante, President of the National Taxpayers Protection Organisaton (NTAPO). We conducted the first Uganda/United States Parallel Session on Taxation: “What can Ugandan and United States taxpayers learn from each other’s tax systems and tax systems from around the world?” This session was a unique and important opportunity for taxpayer groups from two different countries to come together and discuss spending and taxation issues. Our mission was to discuss ideas and collaborate to make government more accountable and give taxpayers a stronger voice in government. The session started with a presentation to the Tax Justice Task Force of SEATINI-Uganda. SEATINI is "an African initiative to strengthen Africa's capacity to take a more effective part in the emerging global trading system and to better manage the process of Globalization." The session ended on November 14 with a press conference at the government owned Media Centre (apparently this is where all important press conferences are held) and a coalition meeting of taxpayers, media, and consumer advocates. There are many differences between Uganda and United States as it relates to spending and taxation, but there are many similarities. For example, a newspaper article yesterday criticized Ugandan MPs for excessive and needless travel. Sound familiar?

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Read more about the article Six Weeks Later: Obamacare Implementation Getting More Painful

Six Weeks Later: Obamacare Implementation Getting More Painful

It’s been more than a month since the rollout of Obamacare. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been warning taxpayers for years even before the law was implemented. The October 1st launch of the Obamacare website saw some initial ‘glitches’ but for the most part the media coverage was minimal due to the competing story in DC about the government shutdown. However, a funny thing happened on the way to November, as the website “glitches” actually became serious deficiencies and soon the problems with the website began to expose the serious flaws in the preparation of this massive overhaul as well as the enormous cost to taxpayers. Unfortunately for Americans across the country, the website was just a preview of the pain that Obamacare would inflict on the public. And now, six weeks later, that pain is being felt by millions of taxpayers and there doesn’t seem to be a happy ending anywhere near in sight. First, let’s look at the cost to taxpayers for the federal exchanges. A recent report by Peter Gosselin in Bloomberg Government shows that the cost to build, as well as the late surge before the launch, and now bringing in new experts to help fix what isn’t working right, now shows that taxpayers footed more than $1 billion for the construction and subsequent fixes to the Obamacare website.

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Read more about the article Another Day in the Park as Coburn Report Exposes Massive Waste at the National Park Service
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Another Day in the Park as Coburn Report Exposes Massive Waste at the National Park Service

NPS Historic Preservation Training Center in MD (courtesy Wikimedia Commons) Though the nation just celebrated Halloween and TPA highlighted some of the worst and most expensive tricks elected officials have played on Americans this past year, the hits seem to just keep on coming. Waste by government agencies is nothing new, and this year we have highlighted many terrible examples of exactly the kind of waste that takes place be it at the Veterans Affairs, Department of Homeland Security, or the Internal Revenue Service; just to name a few. Now, a recent report released by Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) exposes a continuous string of dereliction that Congress is engaging in wasting tax dollars through the National Park Service (NPS). The report, PARKED! How Congress’ Misplaced Priorities are Trashing Our National Treasures, lays out some of the most egregious examples of exactly how the NPS has become such a bastion of wasteful spending and outright dysfunction. The continued addition of new federal land and federal parks while simultaneously allowing existing properties to go without proper maintenance has created a massive backlog, while adding to the budget costs of additional properties. The backlog isn’t the only problem as there are countless examples that highlight the spending problem at NPS.

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Coalition Opposing Delays to Flood Insurance Reforms

TPA Joins Coalition Opposing Delays to Flood Insurance Reforms

Last year, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance welcomed the important changes made to how the National Flood Insurance Program is structured. The ultimate objective was to create a more efficient program, while saving taxpayer dollars and phasing-out the subsidy side in favor of a more free-market oriented system. With the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 that is exactly what taxpayers received. However, as we approach the critical time period in which these major changes will be implemented, there are those who want to halt those reforms before they even take place. This would continue wasteful flood insurance subsidies, completely undermining the success of those reform efforts last year. Last week, in an effort led by the R Street Institute, TPA along with American Conservative Union, American Consumer Institute, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Club for Growth, Competitive Enterprise Institute, ConservAmerica, Cost of Government Center, FreedomWorks, Heritage Action for America, Less Government, Let Freedom Ring, National Taxpayers Union, and Taxpayers for Common Sense joined in sending this letter to Congress urging resolve on these changes and making it clear that “efforts to delay reform of the National Flood Insurance Program must be resisted to protect taxpayers.” To read the full letter, click 'read more' below

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Coalition Urging Lawmakers to Maintain Post-Sequester Spending Caps

TPA Joins Coalition Urging Lawmakers to Maintain Post-Sequester Spending Caps

The end of the year is approaching and Congress is doing what it does best: trying to spend your money. This week, under the guise of budget talks and congressional hearings, lawmakers and agency officials appeared to be sounding the alarm on sequestration yet again in an effort to undo the needed spending cuts put in place by the Budget Control Act of 2011. The goal of long-term spending reduction cannot be achieved without maintaining the all-important spending caps agreed to in the BCA 2011 agreement. With that in mind, TPA joined in an effort led by NTU and signed this letter along with Americans for Prosperity, 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, Freedom Action, Generation Opportunity, Hispanic Leadership Fund, Less Government, Log Cabin Republicans, R Street Institute, and Taxpayers for Common Sense urging GOP Conressional leaders to maintain the post-sequester budget caps in order to "preserve the law and protect taxpayers from further government expansion." To read the full letter, click 'read more' below

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Read more about the article MEADS Latest Test is All Window Dressing

MEADS Latest Test is All Window Dressing

In the throes of sequestration, on the heels of a government shutdown and with our national debt at a record high, it seems like an odd time for the Department of Defense to get into the marketing business. Yet, a marketing stunt would be the only accurate way to describe yesterday’s Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) “test” at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has long identified MEADS as the poster child for waste and redundancy at the Department of Defense. It is an easy case to make, and in fact, TPA identified MEADS as one of the biggest taxpayer “Tricks” during this past Halloween (read more here). After more than $2 billion in cost overruns and delays that put development 10 years behind schedule, the Pentagon rightly pulled the plug on the tri-national program in 2011. The Army didn’t want the program because it was too expensive and was plagued by a host of technical problems that confirmed MEADS just wasn’t up to the task. The Government Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office supported the Army’s conclusions. Yet, here we are some two and half years later and the Department of Defense is still spending taxpayer dollars on the system that TPA has dubbed the “Missile to Nowhere.” In fact, in the last two years alone, our government will have spent another $800 million on this botched program. But what makes yesterday’s test so troubling is that U.S. taxpayers picked up the tab for a stunt that provides zero benefit to our Armed Forces.

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Read more about the article TPA Statement to Environmental Protection Agency’s DC Listening Session

TPA Statement to Environmental Protection Agency’s DC Listening Session

Today, TPA Communications & Policy Manager Michi Iljazi gave this statement to the EPA at their DC Listening Session: Good morning, my name is Michi Iljazi with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about EPA’s plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance is concerned about EPA’s carbon regulations because of their impact on the use of coal to produce affordable and reliable electricity and the EPA’s role in these regulations. Coal plays a crucial role in providing electricity to consumers in virtually every state in the nation. For example, coal provides more than one quarter of the electricity in 29 states with a collective population of more than 175 million people. Unfortunately, EPA regulations have already contributed to the closure of 300 existing coal units in 33 states. And recently proposed regulations would ban new, efficient state-of-art coal plants. These regulations affect consumers and taxpayers deserve an agency to look out for their interest. To begin with, we disagree with EPA’s decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. EPA regulations are an ineffective and economically harmful way to address climate change. But, since EPA is developing these regulations anyway, I want to offer the perspective of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. For the full statement, click 'read more' below

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