Page 361 – Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The Pentagon and Taxpayers Don’t Need MEADS

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 26, 2012
Post category:David Williams Defense

Before debunking the faulty arguments about why it’s supposedly necessary to continue funding the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), let’s take a look at the facts. And while doing so ask the question about why $400 million in taxpayer dollars should be used to fund this defunct program. Here are the facts. For starters, as John C. Hulsman pointed out in a recent opinion piece for the Christian Science Monitor, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) said itself that this air-defense program “will never be operational.” Hulsman goes on to explain that “An original selling point for MEADS is its aspiration to have a 360-degree surveillance capability, as opposed to the Patriot or any previous missile-defense system. But if the Patriot system were equipped with three ‘multi-functional’ radar, it too, would have 360-degree coverage. In other words, MEADS in and of itself offers no new capability.” (Emphasis added).

Taxpayer money used to screen offensive movies

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:September 24, 2012
Post category:Drew Johnson Taxpayers Protection Alliance

(WARNING: This blog post contains graphic language) Over the past two weeks, the eyes of the entertainment world have focused on Canada and the 37th annual Toronto International Film Festival. The eyes of American taxpayers, however, should've been fixed on wasteful lawmakers who are busy robbing them blind to subsidize outlandish film festivals here at home. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) received $146.2 million from federal taxpayers this year to bankroll a myriad of artists and arts projects. A major emphasis of the NEA's spending in recent years has been subsidizing film festivals. Judging by the long list of film festivals that taxpayers funded this year, it seems like no film festival is too small or too bizarre to receive a government handout.

Some Members of Congress are Trying to Save Tax Dollars in TRICARE

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 21, 2012
Post category:David Williams Defense Taxpayers Protection Alliance

It’s pretty safe to say that instances of waste, fraud and abuse run rampant in nearly every entity of government and its programs. This means that every time Congress enacts a new law or reauthorizes or amends an old one, we should be on guard and begin to identify possible opportunities where taxpayer dollars could be misspent. Unfortunately, far too often Washington isn’t proactive enough on this front. Instead, members of Congress stand on the sidelines and wait to act or even address a problem until it has become too big to ignore. And then the only impetus that prompts Congress to act is the size and magnitude of the issue. Likewise, it’s a rarity and something that deserves recognition when members of Congress act swiftly in an attempt to nip a brewing problem in the bud. That’s precisely what a bipartisan group of eight members of Congress – led by Rep. Michael Michaud (D-ME) and Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-NC) – did in August when they sent a letter to the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Office of Inspector General (OIG) requesting an audit of the mail-order pharmacy program that is offered through TRICARE, the health care program for military personnel, retirees and their dependents. Specifically, the members are concerned that recent policies and programs, which have encouraged the use of TRICARE’s mail-order pharmacy program, may “contribute to pharmaceutical waste and unnecessary expenditures for the Department of Defense.”

The Good and Bad News of Internet Taxation

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 19, 2012
Post category:Broadband David Williams Internet Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance

It is tempting to give the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) credit for backpedaling from a proposal to tax broadband Internet service. According to The Hill , “In April, the FCC suggested a number of ideas for reforming the [Universal Service] fund's contribution system, including adding a fee to broadband Internet service. The commission also sought comments on taxing text messages, as well as levying a flat fee on each phone line, instead of the current system, which is based on a portion of the revenue from interstate phone calls.” The FCC has decided not to move forward with the proposal. The state of California missed this memo, and as of this past Saturday, September 15, the state has begun collecting taxes on internet purchases. No longer can the state’s residents enjoy a tax-free internet. A state law is now in effect that “requires state residents to pay sales taxes when ordering goods or services over the Internet.”

Cut congressional salaries

Post author:Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Post published:September 16, 2012
Post category:Drew Johnson Taxpayers Protection Alliance

(Drew Johnson is a Senior Fellow with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance) Congress returned to Washington this week for what will likely be a short session focused on doing as little as possible besides ensuring that government doesn't shut down when the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. Doing as little as possible has become a common theme for this Congress. Congress has failed to pass any of the 12 required appropriations bills necessary to keep government open for business. Lawmakers have also failed to pass a budget since 2009 and done little to meaningfully addressed entitlement reform or the debt. Perhaps worst of all, Congress failed to make the spending cuts required by the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction -- a.k.a. the Supercommittee -- before the deadline to prevent automatic cuts. (Those automatic spending cuts will also likely never take place if this do-nothing attitude continues into the next session.) This lack of action has led many pundits to use words such as, "lazy," "pathetic" and "failed" to describe the gridlocked Congress. Perhaps not surprisingly, Congress' job approval ratings are reaching all-time lows. In poll conducted jointly by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal in August, only 12 percent of Americans approved of the job Congress was doing. Despite doing next to nothing in recent months, United States senators and representative receive a salary of $174,000 per year -- a pay that puts members of Congress among the top 5 percent of wage earners in the United States. But that hefty income is only the beginning.

Time to Pull the Plug on the Chevy Volt

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 14, 2012
Post category:David Williams Taxpayers Protection Alliance

A September 10, 2012 Reuters’ article reported that, “Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds… There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.” These figures add a whole new batch of concerns and questions about the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s green energy crusade. In looking at these numbers it’s natural to ask, how on earth would any company continue to produce cars that are falling far below projected sales and cost so much to make. It is easy to do when you’re backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The trouble is that this one meaningful and reassuring phrase doesn’t carry close to the amount of weight it once did. In part this can be attributed to the current administration and its derelict actions like the decision to bailout General Motors (GM), which has put the government, and taxpayers, in a precarious position.

Time to Strengthen Whistleblower Protection Laws

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 13, 2012
Post category:David Williams Taxpayers Protection Alliance

(The Taxpayers Protection Alliance is a strong supporter of enhanced whistleblower protection laws. The following op-ed was written by Michael Ostrolenk, co-founder and National Director of the Liberty Coalition, Pete Sepp, Executive Vice President for the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union, and Tom Devine, Legal Director of the Government Accountability Project.) As the national debt ominously exceeds 100 percent of Gross Domestic Product, policymakers must have reliable information about government waste, fraud, and abuse. Federal employees on the front lines can often be the best source of this information. Their protection as whistleblowers spotlights a political crossroads between rhetoric and real commitment to change. The good news is that after 13 years Congress is poised to pass the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), which would deliver lawful free speech rights to government workers who identify and challenge fraud, waste and abuse. The bad news is that key Republican gatekeepers are demanding that the paper rights be stripped of normal due process court access to enforce them. That weakness has permitted nearly-identical rights to be gutted in practice after unanimous approval three times since 1978. That means WPEA could end up all bells and whistles without a motor.

TPA Study: Right-to-Work Legislation Would Boost Michigan’s Economy

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 12, 2012
Post category:David Williams Right to Work

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance today released a study on the positive impact Right-to-Work legislation would have on Michigan's economy. Right-to-Work laws, which have been enacted in 23 states, would protect workers from compulsory union membership and payment of union dues as a requirement of employment. "Passing Right-to-Work legislation in Michigan would attract growing businesses to the state and create much needed economic growth," said David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. "Collective bargaining restricts free labor markets, lowers per capita income and reduces individual freedoms. Especially in a time of economic uncertainty, Michigan's taxpayers and citizens deserve labor laws that make it easier, not harder, for both America's small businesses and its middle class to prosper." Written by Richard Vedder, a Distinguished Professor of Economics at Ohio University, and Matthew Denhart, from the 4% Growth Project at the George W. Bush Institute, the study will be presented today at the West Michigan Policy Forum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. To read the full report, click here.

Taxpayers Fund Expensive Chairs

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 10, 2012
Post category:David Williams Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

You’ll need to take a seat for this one. And if you’re a federal government employee, there’s a chance your seat cost one pretty penny. You have probably never heard of an “Aeron,” and up until recently, neither had the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. The reason is because that we’re not federal employees who spend up to 1,000 bucks a pop for hoity-toity office chairs. In a recent piece, The Daily found that “federal government agencies bought 1,002 ergonomic chairs from 2005 to 2011…Uncle Sam spent at least $497,494 on the chairs during that period, at an average cost of more than $500 each.” With spending like this, we shouldn’t be surprised that that last week the national debt surpassed $16 trillion.

TPA President to Speak on Global Tax Panel at European Resource Bank Meeting in Brussels

Post author:David Williams
Post published:September 7, 2012
Post category:David Williams European Resource Bank Meeting European Union Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) President David Williams will be speaking on a panel titled, "Global Taxes: It's a Small (Expensive) World After All," at the European Resource Bank (ERB) meeting on September 9, 2012. The ERB is the largest international gathering of free market and taxpayer groups from around the world. This year marks the ERB's 9th meeting. Williams will highlight a new United Nations' World Health Organization initiative to increase tobacco taxes. Global taxes have become the new frontier for international bureaucracies such as the United Nations. Raising any taxes in a sluggish economy is a bad idea. Click here to view and sign the petition and learn more about this issue.