An April 2012 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that excise tax increases on certain tobacco products have resulted in dramatic shifts by manufacturers and consumers toward lower tax products. Specifically, the implementation of taxes on roll your own tobacco and small cigars have led to increases in production and consumption of pipe tobacco and large cigars. While the government has historically used tobacco taxes to raise revenue, GAO’s study revealed that these disparities in taxation instead decreased federal revenues.
Government Waste Is Alive And Well In West Virginia
In 2009, the state of West Virginia was granted $126,323,296 instimulus funding for the “West Virginia Statewide Broadband Infrastructure Project” to increase broadband access in public facilities including schools, libraries, and hospitals in what the grant defined as “vastly underserved areas.” Of this funding, $24 million was used to purchase 1,064 powerful Internet routers capable […]
House Passes Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act
Cybersecurity has been a very prevalent issue on Capitol Hill recently with legislation such as The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and The Protect IP Act (PIPA) being introduced before Congress. Both of these bills pertain to issues of piracy and online theft, and the negative impact they can have on the economy. As concerns […]
Congress and USPS: Rearranging the Deck Chairs
One does not need to be an accountant to recognize that the United States Postal Service (USPS), which lost $8.5 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2010, $5.1 billion in FY 2011, and is on pace to lose another $11 billion in FY 2012, is in dire straits. Only a politician, however, would insist on delaying the Postal Service’s attempts to put a tourniquet on its red ink-hemorrhaging business model.
Consolidating Government
Duplication within federal government agencies and programs is a long-standing issue. Redundancies within agencies waste taxpayer dollars and creates an unnecessarily burdensome bureaucracy. In an effort to reduce duplication and overlap in the federal government, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is now responsible for filing an annual report outlining duplicative goals, programs, and responsibilities. In […]
Californians Beware: Proposition 29 is Government Waste at its Finest
In this critical election year, Americans will not only cast their votes for elected officials at all levels of government including President of the United States; they will also decide on several state ballot initiatives. Some of these votes will be cast long before November 6. Californians, in particular, will have an expensive and wasteful […]
Rail Boondoggles Not Limited to High-Speed Projects
It is no secret that many of the Obama Administration’s transportation initiatives have taken taxpayers for a ride. The culprit has been the tens of billions of dollars in funding for high-speed rail projects that the federal government has attempted to force down states’ throats.
Next Steps for Healthcare Reform
While no one can be sure of the outcome of the Supreme Court case on Obamacare, if the Court finds the law is unconstitutional, Congress will be forced to consider a new approach to providing more affordable access to healthcare for millions of Americans.
Budget Season: The Most Expensive Time of the Year
Under President Obama’s watch, federal spending has continued to balloon unchecked and taxpayers now hold the bill for a staggering $15.6 trillion national debt. There has never been a more crucial time in the nation’s history to pass a fiscally responsible, deficit-reducing budget.
President Obama’s Corporate Tax Plan Invites Crony Capitalism
On February 22, 2012, President Obama released a proposal to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent, while also eliminating loopholes in the tax code. Considering that the effective corporate tax rate of 34.6 percent in the U.S. is the highest rate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and is nearly 50 percent higher than the OECD average, a move to a lower rate is long overdue. Unfortunately, the devil in the White House’s plan lies in the details.