Read more about the article Keep the Sequester, Get Rid of MEADS

Keep the Sequester, Get Rid of MEADS

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) has been a stalwart proponent of much needed fiscal discipline when it comes to spending at the Department of Defense (DoD). And, in the aftermath of Budget Control Act of 2011 which resulted in sequestration and billions of dollars being cut from defense spending, TPA was pleased see hope that some sacred cow programs at DoD like the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), the Littoral Combat Ship, SM-3 Block II-B missile, the F-35 fighter, refurbishment of M-1 tanks, and the Virginia class submarine may finally be seeing the end of the road. One program in particular that TPA has been a vocal opponent of is MEADS, 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. President Obama kept the program out of the Pentagon’s budget, but that didn’t stop Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel from spending $380 million in continuing resolution (CR) funds this year to continue funding design and development of the program. Sec. Hagel and the DoD may be the only ones proud to even admit it, when they announced in a letter sent to the German and Italian Defense ministers, that, “the U.S. would provide the money in 2013 for development of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), a joint venture between the three countries.” Though the program was not budgeted for production back in 2011, it still continues to live on and cost taxpayers money.

Continue ReadingKeep the Sequester, Get Rid of MEADS
Read more about the article Time for Action, Not More Talk

Time for Action, Not More Talk

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) applauds any attempt to identify wasteful government spending. In fact, TPA’s sole existence is to highlight questionable and wasteful spending so that government can work more efficiently and taxpayers won’t have to be burdened with excessive government spending. That is why when we read that Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Rep. Cheri Bustos, (D-Ill.) introduced the “Government Transformation Act” to get rid of wasteful spending TPA was intrigued and excited. According to an op-ed by Rep. Bustos, “Every year, think tanks, auditors, investigators, and even Uncle Sam’s own Government Accountability Office crank out report after report concluding the same thing — too many federal government programs are inefficient, costly, ineffective or all of the above. And yet, every year, these conclusions are largely ignored. As a consequence, the federal government unnecessarily wastes billions of dollars a year while many government programs continue to operate without concrete goals or standards for success.” TPA agrees, but the problem isn’t identifying waste, it is the lack of congressional courage to actually pass legislation to cut spending in an intelligent manner.

Continue ReadingTime for Action, Not More Talk
Read more about the article RECESS WATCH: Corporate Tax Reform

RECESS WATCH: Corporate Tax Reform

The end of summer is upon us and so is the end of the month-long recess for lawmakers as they will return in full this coming Monday, September 9th. There’s no doubt there is plenty of work to do and the work left undone that awaits them covers a broad range of issues. In this final edition of TPA’s ‘Recess Watch’ corporate tax reform is the focus and this is an issue that Taxpayers Protection Alliance has been on top of for some time now and recent developments have shown that there is a desire on both sides of the aisle and in the White House to get something done for comprehensive tax reform. The reason it would seem that there is such broad agreement on corporate tax reform is the fact that the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world (read previous blog postings here and here). Having the highest corporate tax rate is unwanted distinction, and it is no cause for celebration. On April 1, 2012, Japan lowered its corporate tax rate to 36.8 percent from 39.8 percent; this left the United States with the highest effective rate among developed countries: 39.2 percent. This should give lawmakers pause knowing that they are making it more difficult for businesses to operate and earn a profit when they are burdening them with effectively the highest corporate tax rate in the world.

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Read more about the article Broadband Expansion: Baltimore Latest City Getting it Wrong and Getting in the Way

Broadband Expansion: Baltimore Latest City Getting it Wrong and Getting in the Way

The advancement and access to broadband is an important issue that TPA has been following since the federal and many local and state governments have attempted to get involved with creating broadband networks with taxpayer dollars. There is no doubt that the need for expanded broadband access is real and should be addressed. The continuing problem is that governments at all levels take it upon themselves (with taxpayer dollars) to do the work that the private sector is already doing with private funding. And, the private sector is far more successful than anything the federal, state, or local governments are attempting. TPA has highlighted the Chattanooga EPB as the poster child for failed taxpayer funded networks (read previous blog posting, “Is EPB's gig service a hoax?” here). The latest example of the public sector making an ill-conceived decision to use public resources and funds to expand broadband comes from the city of Baltimore, Maryland. As reported by the Baltimore Business Journal, “The city is hiring a broadband Internet consultant that would help the city develop a plan for expanding Internet service provider options for businesses and residents.” The effort will start with an initial study provided by the consultants, which will cost Baltimore taxpayers more than $150,000.

Continue ReadingBroadband Expansion: Baltimore Latest City Getting it Wrong and Getting in the Way
Read more about the article Rep. McKeon Is Right (Kind of) on the Sequester

Rep. McKeon Is Right (Kind of) on the Sequester

(This piece first appeared on September 3, 2013 in The American Conservative. The piece was written by Michael Ostrolenk, national security consultant. While TPA does not take positions on military intervention/stratgey, we do take a strong position on military funding and budget cuts.) Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), who is Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), said recently on CNN, “We cannot keep asking the military to perform mission after mission with sequestration… hanging over their heads.” He pointed out that Obama has surged troops in Afghanistan, flown missions over Libya, and changed strategy to focus on the Pacific all while cutting Pentagon spending. McKeon said, “Our military has had over a trillion dollars of cuts over the last couple of years and going forward.” Chairman McKeon makes some good points, but they mostly out of context. There have not been trillions of dollars in cuts to the Pentagon. He was not given all of the money he requested, but that’s not an actual cut. The U.S. government is $17 trillion dollars in debt. He cannot wish the debt away so the U.S. military can buy all that his defense contractor friends want to sell Uncle Sam. There are fiscal realities that need to be addressed. Sequestration was a really poor way of doing so, but it was not Obama’s alone. It was part of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which was supported by both the House (run by Republicans) and Senate before being signed into law by President Obama. And sequestration will not lead to trillions in cuts to the Pentagon budget. Parts of his statements have some truth, though. Yes, our military cannot operate as it has while we’re also reducing Pentagon spending. But we are not engaged in Iraq any longer, and we are winding down operations in Afghanistan. There is no need to spend the type of money we did while engaged in two wars. Also, it might prove prudent to start asking tough questions and not just throwing money and other resources at unquestioned assumptions about the threats the U.S faces in an ever-changing world.

Continue ReadingRep. McKeon Is Right (Kind of) on the Sequester
Read more about the article RECESS WATCH: LEED

RECESS WATCH: LEED

As we head into the Labor Day weekend (the unofficial end of summer), the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) continues its “Recess Watch” series with an issue that should be of great importance to taxpayers, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification system. LEED is owned by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and used by the General Services Administration (GSA) as the exclusive system to certify federal buildings as “green.” TPA has done extensive work over the last year looking for answers about the program (read here and here) including Freedom of Information Act requests that have yet to be answered. The latest developments on LEED come out West from the editorial board at The Oregonian, as it becomes clear once again that the original mission of LEED and the way in which standards for the certification system are being decided are not one in the same.

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Read more about the article TPA Releases Congressional Compensation Report

TPA Releases Congressional Compensation Report

This morning the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) released a report exposing the costs behind congressional compensation and the sobering figures of how much the taxpayer is paying when it comes to pay, and benefits for elected officials. The report, “Money Well Spent? The Facts and Figures of Congressional Compensation” (which you can read here) shows that in addition to a salary of $174,000 per year, which by itself puts DC representatives among the highest-paid 5 percent of US workers, members of Congress also receive more generous benefits than typical employees, with total congressional compensation including benefits adding up to $286,000 per year. The report notes that members of Congress make 3.4 times more than the average full-time American worker. With a $16.7 trillion debt and budget deadlines fast approaching, there is the added concern that the output of work being done by Congress falls short in comparison to their salary. Immediate steps need to be taken to cut congressional salaries and benefits and reassure Americans that sacrifices made during this economic downturn are being widely shared.

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Read more about the article Wasteland: Taxpayers Losing Billions on Empty Federal Buildings

Wasteland: Taxpayers Losing Billions on Empty Federal Buildings

(courtesy Peretz Partensky) Even though sequestration triggered across-the-board spending cuts (which many exaggerated would bring about the end of the world), there is still a great deal of room for more cuts at many agencies and to many programs. One of the most blatant examples that continues to plague the government are the number of vacant buildings that the government is paying more than a billion dollars to keep regardless of the fact that nobody has been using them for quite some time. A report from Big Government revealed that taxpayers are on the hook for $8 billion with vacant and unused properties. The federal government blames red tape and various other legalities for the excess properties. In fact, it is this same red tape that is preventing them from making the empty buildings available for sale. Kristen Hinman at Bloomberg writes that in order to be able to sell a property, the government must first “offer them for free to ‘homeless-services providers’, in turn forgoing any sales’ proceeds.” Though this may seem well-intentioned, the simple fact is that most of these buildings are not suitable for that and a simple rule turns into a compliance nightmare that prevents these empty structures from being sold and perpetuates the wasted taxpayer dollars spent on upkeep and maintenance.

Continue ReadingWasteland: Taxpayers Losing Billions on Empty Federal Buildings
Read more about the article RECESS WATCH: Marketplace Fairness Act, aka the Internet Sales Tax

RECESS WATCH: Marketplace Fairness Act, aka the Internet Sales Tax

August is more than halfway over, but Congress remains on vacation as the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) continues our “Recess Watch” series. This week the focus is the Marketplace Fairness Act. This is a deceptive name because it should be called the Internet Sales Tax, which will harm the marketplace and is anything but fair. The bad news is that the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 69-27. The good news is that the House of Representatives still hasn’t voted on it and there appears to be sufficient opposition to stop it. The three core problems with the Marketplace Fairness Act are the additional taxes, the burden on businesses, and privacy. The first problem with MFA is that it is a tax increase, plain and simple. As Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist told Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network last spring, “This is all about raising money to pay unionized state and local government workers more money and more pensions because they don't think making $20,000 more than people in the private sector is enough, having gold-plated pensions is not enough. They want more. They think this is the only way they can get certain states to raise money for them.” There are massive amounts of money to be had and it is clear that politicians at the state and local level see MFA as a major opening to have free-reign to start taxing individuals throughout the 49 other states.

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Coalition Opposing Government Loans for Cape Wind

TPA Joins Coalition Opposing Government Loans for Cape Wind

Over the course of the nearly last twenty years, an effort to build a wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound (off the coast of Cape Cod) has been the subject of great fear for residents worried about the environmental impact of the project. Now, taxpayer advocates are concerned that the project would amount to money spent on yet another failed alternative energy project following in the footsteps of other “green duds” like Solyndra. Despite these legitimate concerns, and previous denials by the Department of Energy (DOE), several groups are pressing DOE to guarantee a loan so that statutory deadlines can be met before the impact of the project can be thoroughly considered. The project is economically outdated and will not only cost taxpayers close to $3 billion dollars but end up producing electricity which will be 2 to 3 times the price of that produced by conventional means. Last week, in an effort led by Frontiers of Freedom, TPA joined a collation urging members in the House and Senate on the Energy & Commerce Committees to recommend that DOE once again deny Cape Wind’s backers’ request for a guaranteed loan. Click 'read more' below to read the letter

Continue ReadingTPA Joins Coalition Opposing Government Loans for Cape Wind