Page 367 – Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Rep. Hal Rogers: One Member Who Never Lost His Appetite for Pork (Part II)

Post author:David Williams
Post published:June 1, 2012
Post category:David Williams Earmarks Energy Taxpayers Protection Alliance

(This is the second part in a two-part series on Rep. Hal Rogers [R-Ky.]. Yesterday’s blog exposed Rep. Rogers and his back door earmarks through the Department of Defense) Yesterday, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (read blog here) showed that Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) has found ways to funnel projects into his district despite Congress’ earmark ban. While the word “earmark” may have been struck from Washington’s vocabulary, it doesn’t mean the practice of “earmarking” money to a member’s district has ended. Like the military drip pan example from yesterday, this one also involves a company in Rogers’ district, this time a uranium enrichment plant. The United States Enrichment Corp. (USEC) has two facilities (one in Kentucky and one in Ohio) that were on the brink of failure without further government funding. To that end, as Energy and Environment News (subscription required) reported, USEC itself freely admitted to the Department of Energy (DOE) that it “was considering halting its enrichment operations at the plant later this year because it doesn’t have enough commercial business to warrant operations...” [Emphasis added]. The source of funding for a uranium enrichment facility may not attract much interest, but the issue deserves much attention and concern. At the heart of the matter is an attempt by Rep. Rogers to save roughly 1,200 jobs in his district by securing additional federal funding for the beleaguered plant. While he justifies his request by citing national security concerns, in reality these federal dollars will be used for commercialization for a product that the market – by the company’s own admission – has not demonstrated a need for at this time.

Rep. Hal Rogers: One Member Who Never Lost His Appetite for Pork (Part I)

Post author:David Williams
Post published:May 31, 2012
Post category:David Williams Defense Earmarks Taxpayers Protection Alliance

(This is the first part in a two-part series on Rep. Hal Rogers [R-Ky.]. Tomorrow’s blog will detail his involvement with the United States Enrichment Corporation) When Congress passed its earmark moratorium, there was good reason to think earmarks would become a thing of the past. But as is now apparent, it was wishful thinking to ever believe that Washington could be capable of giving up pork, cold turkey. The longer the period of addiction, the more difficult it is to end. This is especially true since many members of Congress had become so accustomed to and so enjoyed these kickbacks that benefited their districts, and ultimately their campaign coffers. One of the most adept practitioners of earmarking has been Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY). It’s no wonder then that Rep. Rogers confronted quite a challenge when Congress passed the two-year earmark moratorium. But as the following example makes clear, when a member of Congress wants something bad enough, they figure out a way to make it happen. Just like the addict in the rehab center determined to get his fix, so too are some members finding ways to sneak in earmarks hoping they go undetected. On May 19, 2012, The New York Times exposed a specific example of waste and favoritism in earmarks benefiting Rogers’ district. According to The New York Times, Hal Rogers arranged for the Army to purchase about “$6.5 million worth of ‘leakproof’ drip pans in the last three years to catch transmission fluid on Black Hawk helicopters.” The cost to the taxpayer was $17,000 per drip pan compared to a similar pan from another company that costs only about $2,500.

The Military’s NASCAR Sponsorships Net No Recruits While Speeding Off With Tax Dollars

Post author:Jessica Wright
Post published:May 30, 2012
Post category:Congress Defense Taxpayers Protection Alliance

One of the most obvious symbols in NASCAR is the prominent sponsorship that is displayed on each car. From candy bars to beer, the intent of these sponsorships is to increase product awareness (to hopefully increase sales) and give racing teams the much needed cash to field a team to be able to compete on a weekly basis. Many NASCAR fans have become accustomed to seeing military sponsorship on these cars. On May 18, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) released her most forceful argument yet against military sponsorship of NASCAR race teams. McCollum found that, despite spending $26.5 million to sponsor the race car driven by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. the National Guard signed zero new recruits in 2012 as a result of the sponsorship. None.

High Corporate Tax Rates Do Not Bode Well For An Economic Recovery

Post author:David Williams
Post published:May 29, 2012
Post category:Corporate Tax David Williams Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance

May has been a big month for one American business, Facebook. Instead of celebrating this success story, some policy makers in Washington D.C. want to penalize wise tax planning. According to a May 17, 2012 story in the Los Angeles Times, “Two senators on Thursday denounced Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin as a tax dodger for renouncing his U.S. citizenship ahead of the company's initial public offering and introduced legislation to punish him and others who leave the country to duck big tax bills. Among the penalties would be a ban on reentering the United States for anyone that the Internal Revenue Service determined renounced citizenship to avoid paying taxes.” This policy clearly represents how misguided the United States government is and how it is failing to compete with other countries in attracting and retaining businesses on our shores with an attractive corporate tax rate.

Time for Taxpayers from Around the World to Fight Higher Taxes

Post author:David Williams
Post published:May 24, 2012
Post category:David Williams European Union

This week, taxpayer groups from around the world are meeting in Kiev, Ukraine at the 2012 World Taxpayers Associations Members' Conference to share experiences and discuss ways to make the taxpayer movement stronger around the globe. One of the many topics of discussion will be international taxation and how international bodies such as the United Nations and the European Union (EU) are trying to institute global tax regimes and the destructive nature of these tax regimes to a country’s sovereignty. Increasing taxes threatens any potential economic recovery, and, let’s not forget, when any elected or non-elected body collects taxes, there is a propensity to waste that money through bloated, inefficient, and unaccountable bureaucracies. In an effort to heighten awareness and stop these tax increases, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance will be on a panel discussing these issues and circulating a petition to try and stop these international tax regimes (see petition here).

Coalition Urges Stricter Oversight of USDA Broadband Program

Post author:Kara Zupkus
Post published:May 22, 2012
Post category:Agriculture Broadband Congress Senate Taxpayers Protection Alliance Telecommunications

Today, a coalition of taxpayer and free market groups sent a letter (read letter here) to the Senate as they complete work on the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. The letter urges stricter oversight of the Rural Utilities Service’s (RUS) Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, which was established by Congress as part of the 2002 Farm Bill. Its primary goal is to provide loans to help bring Internet broadband service to unserved rural communities, which are generally defined as communities with populations of less than 20,000. RUS has had a history of approving loans to companies who build broadband systems in areas that are already served. And, the areas where these companies build are often already served by multiple private broadband providers. According to a report by the USDA on April 23, 2012, “We found that RUS had not maintained its focus on rural communities most in need of Federal assistance. This is largely because its definition of ‘rural area,’ although within the statutory guidelines, was too broad to distinguish between suburban and rural communities. As a result, RUS issued over $103.4 million in loans to 64 communities near large cities.”

TPA Urges Illinois to Cut Spending, Not Raise Taxes to Fix Budget Problems

Post author:David Williams
Post published:May 21, 2012
Post category:David Williams Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance is urging the Illinois legislature to balance the state’s budget by cutting spending rather than raising taxes. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) is proposing a $1 per pack increase in the cost of cigarettes and is planning to use the extra revenue raised to help close a budget short fall and fund Medicaid. The state legislature will be voting on the cigarette tax tomorrow (May 22). Proponents of Illinois’ cigarette tax hike believe it could raise hundreds of millions of dollars, but history has shown that proposition to be Fool’s Gold. Raising excise taxes rarely produces the projected revenue. Such tax increases drive purchases across state lines or to untaxed or lower-tax venues, like Native American territories and the Internet. This shift would cause Illinois retailers to lose revenue, with those losses becoming even more pronounced as cigarette purchases are often bundled with other items, such as food and beverages.

The Cable Industry Needs Less Regulation and More Freedom

Post author:David Williams
Post published:May 17, 2012
Post category:Broadband David Williams Internet Net Neutrality Taxpayers Protection Alliance Telecommunications

Fortunately, the free market doesn’t work like group projects in grade school where one poor performer could bring down the grade of the entire group. When one company fails or does not adequately meet customer demands, it may go under – but usually this does not lead to the failure of an entire industry. And that particular company’s shortcomings don’t typically have negative repercussions on the industry or hold the future of the industry back. That is unless – or until – the government regulates that industry. There has been a concerted push to regulate the broadband industry and make it into a quasi-public utility and the repercussions could be disastrous. Another thing left back in grade school is a teacher to go cry to when things don’t go one’s way. But that hasn’t stopped Netflix from pouting over a new specialized service Comcast is offering. The service allows Comcast’s Xbox 360 customers to stream thousands of movies and shows from XFINITY On Demand without counting against the data usage threshold that applies to broadband internet access services. (And it should be exempt from such a data cap because the service in question is a cable service, which would render the rules governing Internet streaming inapplicable).

Taxpayer Coalition Applauds House for De-funding the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS)

Post author:David Williams
Post published:May 15, 2012
Post category:David Williams Defense House National Defense Authorization Act

The House of Representatives is poised to pass the National Defense Authorization Act this week. The final Authorization bill totals $554.2 billion, $8 billion above the caps set in the Budget Control Act agreed to last year. The Appropriations Committee identified billions in unnecessary spending, bringing their bill in $45 billion below the Armed Services Committee mark. One of the bright spots of the bill was that the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) was not funded. Even though the Army doesn’t want the project, there was an additional $800 million allocated for MEADS through 2013 (including $400 million in President Obama’s latest budget). One of the biggest roadblocks to halting the program was the potential termination costs to be incurred by American taxpayers. However, a new report by the Pentagon shows Congress that they can defund the program without the fear of termination costs. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance co-signed a letter (read here) with Americans for Tax Reform, the Cost of Government Center and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste to applaud the steps that the House Armed Services Committee has made to eliminate waste and urge them to inject more restraint in defense spending.

TSA Plays Hide and Go Seek With Taxpayer-Funded Equipment

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

Normally, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) makes the news because of its actions, specifically those involving the grossly inappropriate screening of airport travelers. But this week TSA is in the news for its inaction – failing to install $184 million worth of airport security equipment, and instead leaving it in a warehouse to gather dust. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a joint hearing to study this issue and more broadly examine whether the TSA is effectively procuring, deploying, and storing security equipment. An earlier report released by the two committees revealed that TSA had spent $3.5 million a year to lease and manage a warehouse in Dallas that held 5,700 pieces of unused equipment.