Page 373 – Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Selling Spectrum Should be a Top Priority for Congress and the Administration

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 24, 2012
Post category:David Williams Deficit Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Being a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I am accustomed to think of sports teams such as the Flyers or 76ers when the word spectrum is mentioned. Spectrum is also the backbone of wireless networks (check out a nice info graphic from CTIA here). It is the reason that consumers are able to download Angry Birds and why Alec Baldwin was thrown off a plane for playing Words With Friends. It is also a critical piece of infrastructure that allows rescue personnel talk to each other in times of emergency. September 11, 2001 highlighted the critical weaknesses with the wireless spectrum and the need to have a comprehensive plan to reallocate and auction off spectrum.

Congress Loses a Champion of Cutting Congressional Pay

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 23, 2012
Post category:Congress David Williams Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

On Sunday January 22, 2012 Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) announced that she will be resigning from Congress. Rep. Gifford’s prime legacy will be the shooting that occurred in January of 2011. As Congress returns from their winter break, taxpayers should also remember another legacy that Rep. Giffords will leave, her desire to cut congressional pay. In July of 2011 Our Generation and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) released a report titled, “Are Taxpayers Getting Their Money’s Worth? An Analysis of Congressional Compensation.” The report exposed that Members of Congress receive a salary of $174,000 per year, as well as generous fringe benefits that increase their total compensation to $285,000 per year. From the very beginning Rep. Giffords was supportive of the report and sent a “Dear Colleague” letter asking members of Congress to co-sponsor legislation to cut congressional compensation. Rep. Giffords also urged the Super Committee to consider a congressional pay cut as part of their mandate to cut spending by more than $1 trillion over ten years (see Huffington Post article here).

Government Bytes the Dust

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 20, 2012
Post category:Inspector General Taxpayers Protection Alliance Telecommunications

There are situations and stories that really crystalize the differences between the private and public sectors. A report by wired.com reveals one of the moments in its January 19 article “$356 Million Later, the Justice Department’s Wireless Network Still Sucks.” According to the article, “After 9/11, three federal law enforcement agencies planned a massive project to replace a mishmash of aging and obsolete radios used by thousands of federal agents. A decade and $356 million later, the program has made ‘minimal progress’ and the Department of Homeland Security, one of the project’s key partners, wants little to do with it.” This is not surprising considering the technological ineptitude of the federal government.

Obama Rejects XL Pipeline

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 18, 2012
Post category:David Williams Energy Oil Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Part of the two month extension of the payroll tax cut package late last year was a requirement that the President make a decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline. On Wednesday January 18, the White House officially announced that it will not seek to build the pipeline. According to Politico, “The State Department Wednesday will reject the Keystone XL pipeline, multiple sources following the project tell POLITICO.” The formal announcement by the State Department is expected to occur at 3 pm. The White House did leave a little bit of wiggle room. According to The Hill, “While the administration is expected to reject TransCanada Corp.’s permit application, it will allow the company to re-apply…” This could be seen as keeping the door open to the pipeline when in reality it is probably just a ploy to try and “have it both ways.” The truth is that the XL Pipeline will be good for the economy, the government, and the entire country. It is important to understand the facts about the pipeline. The proposed pipeline, which would carry roughly 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast, would encompass 1,700 miles and cost approximately $7 billion. The pipeline would be an extension of one that became operational in 2010 (you can read TPA’s previous blog posting here).

Déjà vu All Over Again – Debt Ceiling Increase Expected This Week

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 16, 2012
Post category:Congress David Williams Debt Debt Ceiling Spending Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The country is facing yet another debt ceiling increase. This time around when the debt ceiling is increased by $1.2 trillion there won’t be any 24 hour news coverage and there won’t be any last minute negotiations to trick taxpayers thinking that serious spending cuts will be offered (see previous post here). Debt ceiling negotiations last August set up a scenario that requires another debt ceiling increase before the 2012 elections. But, according to The Hill, “Under the terms of the August debt-ceiling deal, the debt will increase unless the Senate and Obama go along with the House disapproval, and that is never going to happen.” This increase should not be an exercise in futility; it should be an opportunity for taxpayers (and all Americans) to show their displeasure and frustration with current government spending.

Welcome Back, Congress

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 13, 2012
Post category:Congress Congressional Budget Office Corporate Tax David Williams Debt Debt Ceiling Deficit House Senate Spending Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The 1970’s sitcom “Welcome Back Kotter” depicts a dysfunctional classroom of trouble making students. When Americans “Welcome Back Congress” next week from their Christmas break, a group of dysfunctional and trouble making members of Congress will begin work on reducing the national deficit and debt. With a work week of only 2 days next week, there won’t be much time to get anything done so the following week is when the legislative process will begin to heat up when Congress returns for a full work week (by congressional standards) and the President gives his State of the Union address. Since last year’s State of the Union, the national debt has increased by $1 trillion despite numerous spending fights with threatened government shut downs, a debt ceiling crisis averted with sham spending cuts, and a Super Committee that failed to come up with $1 trillion in spending cuts over ten years. The first order of business when Congress returns is to cut spending and taxes to put the country back on the proper fiscal path.

Taxes? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Taxes!

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 11, 2012
Post category:David Williams State Issues Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Montgomery County, Maryland ushered in its new 5 cent bag tax on January 1, 2012. The goal is to change consumer behavior and raise money for the county. Montgomery County follows the neighboring District of Columbia who instituted a bag tax in 2010 in trying to squeeze more money out of an already tax-weary public. D.C.’s experience has been a complete failure. According to a report by Americans for Tax Reform and the Beacon Hill Institute, “the bag tax will result in the elimination of more than 100 local jobs and precipitate a $5.64 million decline in aggregate disposable income for 2011. The majority of this income would have been spent in the District and, as a result of the bag tax, D.C. will now needlessly forgo an additional $108,340 in sales tax revenue and will see investment drop by $602,000, with the bulk of the loss occurring in the retail sector.” The obvious scenario is that people will shift their purchasing behavior to patronize stores that are outside the geographical area of the tax. The bag tax should come as no surprise to folks around the country who have been bombarded with all types of taxes to justify the expansion of government. Taxes are also a way to avoid cutting spending to balance state and local budgets. Besides the growing popularity of bag taxes, federal, state, and local governments are obsessed with usage and consumption taxes on telecommunications, tobacco, and alcohol.

2012 Defense Earmarks: The Rest of the Story – Abrams Tank Upgrade

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 9, 2012
Post category:Congress David Williams Defense Earmarks Omnibus appropriations Taxpayers Protection Alliance

(The Taxpayers Protection Alliance will be investigating the individual earmarks in the 2012 spending bill in the coming weeks/months) Last month the House and Senate approved (and President Obama signed) a $1 trillion spending bill that included $3 billion worth of earmarks in the Defense section of the bill. Looking through the list (read full list of earmarks here), the projects may not seem too controversial or look like the next Bridge to Nowhere. The truth is that each earmark has a story. The first earmark listed is $255,000,000 for the Abrams Tank Upgrade Program and has a story to tell. The biggest mystery of the earmarks added to the Pentagon’s spending bill were the members of Congress who requested them. Congress passed transparency legislation in 2007 (that went into effect in 2008) that required members to put their names next to earmarks. This worked reasonably well for a couple years and then Congress decided to ban the process of earmarking all together by agreeing to a moratorium on all earmarks. Even the most naive Congressional observer didn’t believe that Congress would give up their earmarks so quickly.

It is Time to Look at Every Agency for Spending Cuts

Post author:Kara Zupkus
Post published:January 6, 2012
Post category:Congress Debt Defense Earmarks Education Energy Healthcare Taxpayers Protection Alliance

President Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced a new Defense strategy on January 5, 2012. The new strategy involves hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts. The mysteries in these cuts are the specifics. According to the Austin Business Journal, “President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave few specifics about program cuts at the U.S. Department of Defense [DOD] during a briefing Thursday on DOD’s strategy…” This is problematic because as much as the Pentagon budget needs to be cut, it should be done responsibly with the Pentagon still having the ability to meet the defense needs of the country. In addition to the Defense cuts, President Obama should also require all federal agencies to do the same and come up with target cuts.

A New Year Means New Challenges and New Opportunities

Post author:David Williams
Post published:January 3, 2012
Post category:Agriculture Appropriations Broadband Congress Corporate Tax David Williams Debt Debt Ceiling Defense Earmarks Food and Drug Administration Internet Spending Taxes Taxpayers Protection Alliance Telecommunications

When the 112th Congress took over in January, 2011, there was quite a bit of excitement and anticipation that the newly elected members (including dozens of tea party members) would be aggressive in demanding real spending cuts and accountability. With a near-miss government shutdown in April, a debt ceiling scare in August and the failure of the super committee in November, last year was filled with missed opportunities to institute real spending cuts. With the federal debt eclipsing $15 trillion in 2011, Congress has quite a bit of work to do in 2012. In addition to the annual budget fiascos that are typical of Washington, D.C., there are seven key areas (Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Food and Drug Administration/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Tax Reform, Telecommunications/Technology, and Transportation) that will determine if Congress and the President are serious about bringing spending under control and having a more efficient government.