WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released its June WasteWatcher, a monthly dispatch to members of the news media, highlighting some of the most prominent fiscal issues affecting American taxpayers. The stories from its June edition of WasteWatcher are listed in part as follows:
The
TPA Debate: Fears & Facts about “Fast-Track”
By Thomas
A. Schatz & William M. Christian
When Chicken Little said “The
sky is falling!” and convinced his barnyard brethren of the same, the
facts notwithstanding, he practically invented fear-mongering. Trade
liberalization opponents are engaged in their own version of spreading
false and misleading information by claiming that so-called “fast track”
legislation is fraught with end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it perils. Read
the full story here.
Floundering
USPS Needs Reform, Not Expansion
By Curtis Kalin
The
United States Postal Service (USPS) is a government entity and has
operated as such since 1775. It has a straightforward mandate: “To
provide postal services to bind the Nation together.” And furthermore,
“It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons.”
In 1970, Congress directed that USPS be run like a business, with its
activities funded solely through its revenues. Even with that mandate,
USPS’s business performance leaves much to be desired. Read the full
story here.
Acquisition
Reform Proposal Makes Waves
By Sean Kennedy
Acquisition
horror stories are nothing new at the Department of Defense (DOD). The
three most costly recent mishaps include the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,
which is approximately $170 billion over budget and has encountered
numerous problems with its software and engine design. Read the full
story here.
Tossing
a Broken Lifeline to Subsidize Broadband
By Deborah Collier
In
2014, approximately $8.5 billion was collected in Universal Service Fund
(USF) fees from consumers as a tax on their communications services. The
four main USF programs are the Low-Income support services, which
includes the Lifeline and Link-Up programs; the High-Cost program; the
E-Rate Library and Schools program; and the Rural Health program. While
there are many questions and concerns about all of these programs, the
Lifeline program, which was established in 1985 to provide subsidized
telephone services to low-income households, has perhaps the most sordid
history of waste, fraud and abuse. Read the full story here.
Up,
Up and Away
By Elizabeth Wright
During both of his two
campaigns and the 2009 debate over healthcare reform, President Obama
often stated that his plan would cut the average premium of a typical
family by $2,500 per year. But not surprisingly, prices are instead
going in the opposite and wrong direction. As Jed Graham blared in his
May 18, 2015 Investor’s Business Daily column, “ObamaCare Premium
Increases Next Year May Shock You.” Read the full story here.
Taxing
the Digital Age
By Deborah Collier
Imagine someone
sitting at the airport terminal in Seattle, Washington, waiting for a
flight home to Ohio. Boredom has set in, as she waits for her flight to
board, and she wants something to do. So she scans through the app store
on her mobile device, finds a game that happens to be located on a
server in Utah and purchases it. When she is back in Ohio and opens up
her mobile billing statement, she could find a sales tax remittance for
not just her home state of Ohio, but also from Utah and Washington. In
fact, if the company that developed the app was based in yet another
state that taxes digital goods, she could potentially be subject to up
to four separate taxes on a single purchase. Read the full story here.
CAGW is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.