Read more about the article TPA Submits Comments To Tax Reform Working Group

TPA Submits Comments To Tax Reform Working Group

On Thursday April 11, 2013, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance submitted comments to the House Committee on Ways and Means Tax Reform Working Groups urging a lowering of the corporate tax rate. On April 1, 2013, the U.S. celebrated a somber anniversary, having the highest corporate tax rate amongst OECD nations. Social welfare states have spent the last few decades actively cutting their corporate rate to boost their economies. In fact, Sweden recently announced plans to cut its rate from 26.3% to 22%. If enacted, this rate would be a full 13 percentage points lower than that rate paid by U.S. companies. While some falsely claim that no U.S. businesses pay the corporate tax rate, our statutory rate is already having a negative impact on wages and the economy. According to a new study, U.S. GDP will be between 1.2 percent and 2.0 percent smaller in 2013 because of our 35% statutory tax rate. The tax rate also deters foreign countries from investing in the United States while at the same time encouraging U.S. companies to relocate. From 2000 to 2011, the U.S. lost a net of 46 Fortune Global 500 company headquarters to other, lower-tax countries in Europe and Asia. Tax reform is long overdue and this opportunity must not be wasted.

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Read more about the article It’s Tax Day. Do You Know Where Your Tax Dollars Are?

It’s Tax Day. Do You Know Where Your Tax Dollars Are?

The answer to that question may not be what you want to hear. There was $95 billion in waste and duplication. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released two reports, Department of Everything, which highlights waste at the Pentagon, and the Wastebook 2012, which highlights waste throughout the federal government. In conjunction with Our Generation (OG), the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) released a video showing Washington, D.C., tourists giving their thoughts on wasteful government spending. As examples of wasteful spending, TPA and OG highlighted the $1.5 million for Pentagon beef jerky and the $325,000 the National Science Foundation (NSF) spent on a RoboSquirrels program. Both of these projects were highlighted in reports by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). According to Sen. Coburn’s report, Department of Everything, “Beef jerky so good it will shock and awe your taste buds. That is the goal of an ongoing Pentagon project, which is attempting to develop its own brand of jerky treats that are the bomb! Only, the money is coming from a program specially created to equip soldiers with the weapons they need.” Sen. Coburn highlighted the $325,000 for the NSF RoboSquirrels in his Wastebook 2012. TPA and OG spoke to visitors from California to Ohio to Texas to New Jersey and the frustration was always the same. When they were asked for thoughts on members of Congress making $174,000 per year ($285,000 with benefits), people were dumbfounded. They wondered why our elected officials made so much and received so much time off for vacation when American families across the nation—their constituents—are struggling financially.

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Read more about the article GAO Highlights $95 Billion In Waste and Duplication

GAO Highlights $95 Billion In Waste and Duplication

It’s been a busy year with the Fiscal Cliff, sequestration, the President’s budget release, and, of course, Tax Day (April 15) on Monday. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has also been busy. On April 9, the GAO released, “Actions Needed to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Other Financial Benefits,” that, “identifies 31 areas where agencies may be able to achieve greater efficiency or effectiveness.” All told, more than $95 billion in savings could be achieved from following GAO’s recommendations. An editorial in The Examiner highlighted the report and chronicled the fact that there is no end to the waste that exists in the federal budget. As The Examiner noted, “How many federal agencies does it take to do catfish safety inspections? At least three, according to the Government Accountability Office, which on Tuesday released its 2013 report on fragmentation and duplication of federal programs. This year's report documents an estimated $95 billion in duplicative programs that waste precious tax dollars. That brings the three-year total of potential savings documented by GAO to $295 billion.”

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Forces To Warn Senate About Water Resources Development Act of 2013

TPA Joins Forces To Warn Senate About Water Resources Development Act of 2013

Led by Taxpayers for Common Sense, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance joined with eight other free market and taxpayer groups to urge the United States Senate to give greater scrutiny of misguided and potentially costly provisions in S.601, the Water Resources Development Act of 2013. The Senate may take up consideration of S. 601 soon. And after rushed consideration in committee, and with the Senate’s attention elsewhere, the Senate and taxpayers deserve a thorough vetting of this far reaching legislation. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the legislation’s impacts on projects, policy, and cost-sharing would cost taxpayers more than $12.5 billion, yet because of budget rules this estimate does not reflect the true potential price tag. For instance, the bill is full of a myriad of provisions that would serve to undercut long-standing cost sharing rules; placing greater burdens on federal taxpayers at a time of severe budgetary pressures. There are several concerns with the legislation including what appears to be a move to approve whatever the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommends. Projects should meet certain enhanced cost-benefit criteria, subject them to prioritization, and to limit the number of projects. With an estimated project backlog of more than $60 billion for the agency, we cannot simply pile more projects on the to-do list. for these extended beach replenishment projects. The bill contains a "BRAC" style commission to reduce the backlog of authorized but not constructed projects, but so many projects are excluded from consideration it is far from clear that this effort will help. In fact, this bill could result in an increase in the backlog. Finally, while the project authorization avoids earmarks, there are several provisions in the bill that are targeted toward narrow interests that could be viewed as akin to earmarks.

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Read more about the article TPA’s Analysis Of The President’s Budget

TPA’s Analysis Of The President’s Budget

President Obama released his long awaited budget today (access all budget documents here). Two months overdue and dead on arrival to a dysfunctional and divided Congress, the fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget is nothing more than a wish list of things that will never happen. It is important to look through the budget and see where the President’s priorities are. The budget proposes to spend $3.78 trillion in FY 2014. That is $10.3 billion per day, $431 million per hour and $7.2 million per minute. There are two fundamental problems with the budget, there is too much revenue asked for and not enough spending cuts. Even though the budget calls for $24 billion in specific spending cuts, Defense spending alone will be $52 billion above the budget cap for next year saving some programs that should be eliminated such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The President’s budget also wants to raise more revenue via tax increases on the wealthy and a new program to offer preschool to all 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families through higher tobacco taxes.

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Read more about the article More Internet Taxes, This Time E-Mail

More Internet Taxes, This Time E-Mail

When there’s a bad idea like taxing e-mail, chances are that it originated in California. Before taking a closer look at this flawed proposal, let’s take a step back and consider a short list – an entire blog could be dedicated to the various ways we are taxed – of some of the ways we’re taxed each and everyday of our lives. Our property is taxed. Our income is taxed. Our investments are taxed. Our purchases are taxed. This list could go on and on. There’s been one thing however that’s successfully – and appropriately – avoided the tax man’s reach, the Internet. With the Marketplace Fairness Act and now a proposal to tax e-mails, citizens could be forced to fork over more money to the government.FoxNews.com recently reported that Berkeley City Councilman Gordon Wozniak introduced the idea at a city council meeting. During the council meeting Wozniak explained described his proposal for the taxing the Internet in more detail. He offered, “There should be something like a bit tax. I mean, a bit tax could be a cent per gigabit and they [the government] would make, probably, billions of dollars a year.” To soften the blow of his outrageous proposal he noted that the bit tax would be “very tiny tax on email.” Perhaps even worse, he’d like to see the extra revenue the “bit tax” would bring in to subsidize in an attempt to save the woefully failing Berkeley’s local post office.

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Read more about the article TPA Joins Coalition To Urge Congress To Create A Committee to Reduce Government Waste

TPA Joins Coalition To Urge Congress To Create A Committee to Reduce Government Waste

On April 3, 2013 the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, through an initiative led by Americans for Tax Reform, joined with more than 40 other free market and taxpayer groups to support Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) and Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) bill to create the Committee to Reduce Government Waste. This bill signals a serious step toward reforming federal spending and provides prudent lawmakers with an important tool to decrease the size of government. The letter points out that the Committee to Reduce Government Waste is not a new idea—in fact, the committee existed first in the 77th Congress after it was proposed by Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. (D-Va.). Named after its creator, the “Byrd Committee” was tasked solely with cutting unnecessary and redundant federal programs and was able to enact real reform—the Committee netted over $38 billion in savings (in adjusted dollars) in its first few years of existence. The bickering over the past few months over a two percent cut in federal spending shows that fiscal restraint is hard to come by. Institutional changes, such as implementing a committee focused only on cutting spending, is the only way to ensure lasting reform for taxpayers. Passage of this legislation will be a serious step forward in advancing spending cuts and finally give taxpayers a much-needed congressional voice.

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Read more about the article Pentagon Spends $1.6 Billion In A Single Day

Pentagon Spends $1.6 Billion In A Single Day

The vast majority of Americans will never spend $1.6 billion in their entire lifetime nor will most people ever see that figure in a bank account, much less spend the amount in a single day’s time. But before you say it’s impossible to do, take a look at how the Pentagon managed to spend $1.6 billion in just a single day’s work. Fortunately, The Fiscal Times did the number crunching for us and offered just exactly how such vast expenditures occur. The article rightly notes that most of the attention goes to the big-ticket expenditures, including many examples, like the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) that the Taxpayers Protection Alliance has written on extensively. So what’s particularly valuable and unique about the Times’ article is that it zeros in on some of the smaller projects. The article notes, “But smaller projects often escape scrutiny, despite costing the Pentagon hundreds of millions of dollars. To illustrate just how the Pentagon spends money each day, The Fiscal Times picked a random day – March 4, 2013 – and reviewed what contracts the Pentagon awarded on that day. From weapons systems to prescription drugs, the daily cost of running the Pentagon added up quickly: 10 days ago, the Pentagon spent $1,614,108,656.”

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Read more about the article Having The Highest Corporate Tax Rate Is No Joke

Having The Highest Corporate Tax Rate Is No Joke

Today may be April Fools’ Day, but not everything that happens today is a joke. And as great as it would be to say that the topic this blog discusses is a joke, it’s not. Just like last year, the first day of April is once again greeted with the somber reality that the United States has the highest corporate tax rate. Although today marks the one year anniversary of this unwanted distinction, they’ll be no celebrating in taxpayer circles. 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.” A US News and World Report piece dated April 2, 2012 explained the issue well in its opening paragraph. It reads “United States-based companies and hardworking Americans face a steadily growing problem, one oddly self-imposed by Uncle Sam. Our current tax system puts businesses and workers at a competitive disadvantage in the global market and discourages companies from investing in operations here at home.” This first place designation is not one the U.S. should want to retain. In addition to harming U.S. companies, there are other tangible harms inflicted upon our nation’s economy. As the Daily Caller reported, “between 2000 and 2011, the U.S. experienced a net loss of 46 Fortune Global 500 company headquarters, according to a report by Ernst and Young.”

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Read more about the article Wasted Space = Wasted Tax Dollars

Wasted Space = Wasted Tax Dollars

Earlier this week Taxpayers Protection Alliance posted a blog on an IRS-funded Star Trek parody video. And if that didn’t send you into outer space, the absurd example of government waste highlighted in today’s blog surely will. The topic of this blog is a totally different sort of space: wasted. Not the type of wasted that college kids are on a Saturday night, no, the definition of wasted used here is about totally empty, unused federal buildings. The Fiscal Times recently reported on a “new Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit, which found that between 2000 and 2010, taxpayers spent $835 million in extra construction costs for 33 courthouses that were overbuilt by more than 3.5 million square feet – enough extra space for nine average-sized courthouses.” To give you an idea of just what this continues to cost taxpayers on a yearly basis, The Fiscal Times explains, “Even though the space sits empty and unused to this day, taxpayers continue to pay for $51 million in maintenance and operational costs every year.”

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