Another 1,900 Reasons Why No American, Rich Or Poor, Should Pay An Additional Penny In Taxes

Many times in this blog we have successfully, forcefully, and mathematically made the case that no American, rich or poor, should be an extra penny in Federal taxes because of the rampant waste inefficiency, and criminal fraud currently going on in every Federal entity:

• Medicare and Medicaid lose anywhere from $110 to $150 billion a year to waste and criminal activity.
• Social Security loses about $125 billion a year to waste and criminal activity.
• The IRS admits that it fails to collect about $385 billion a year from tax evaders who do not pay their fair share of taxes.
• Federal unemployment and food stamp programs lose about $25 billion a year to waste and criminal activity.
• Multiple, overlapping, and inefficient Federal programs in a wide range of areas (job training, teacher training, food safety, etc.) wastes tens of billions of dollars every year without any discernible taxpayer benefits.
• Over staffed, over paid, and excessive benefits to Federal workers and politicians waste tens of billions of dollars every year.
• Unnecessary and expensive deployments of U.S. troops around the world waste tens of billions of dollars every year.

The list goes on and on, with the following examples of other government waste just a small sample:

• http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/09/now-it-is-huds-turn-to-waste-taxpayer.html
• http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/now-veterans-affairs-bureaucracy-gets.html
• http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/10/wastebook-2012-wasteful-federal.html

That is why no American should be forced to give up any more of their wealth, the Federal government and the politicians that operate it will just end up wasting the additional tax revenue like they do with the current tax revenue they collect.

In addition, according to a recent, October 22, 2012 article from the Washington Guardian, there are at least another 1,900 reasons why American should not pay any more in taxes than they currently do:

• According to the article, the Federal government has about 1,900 investigations underway into the misspending and criminal fraud involved with the Economic Stimulus program.
• These 1,900 investigations have already resulted in the arrest of over 600 people according to an online Federal government Internet post in September.
• Since that online blog post, several Federal inspectors generals have announced new convictions, prosecutions, or audits, a sign that some of the investigations are growing closer to decisions and actions.
• Federal investigators have already identified over $11 billion of waste taxpayer money and with 1,900 investigations underway, that number is expected “to balloon in the coming months.”
• For example, the Energy Department inspector general announced in mid-October that it had found that the California energy commission collected two duplicate payments under the stimulus program that cost taxpayers $678,000.
• The Health and Human Services inspector general recently found that a Louisiana group which had gotten funds for Head Start programs for children had inappropriately spent nearly $1.2 million in Federal funds to constrict a new building that was not approved by Federal officials, a conclusion the group is contesting.
• The Energy Department inspector general warned in its recent semiannual report that the Western Area Power Administration, which received $3.25 billion in borrowing authority to help build transmission lines under the stimulus program, is at risk of losing significant money on a transmission project for wind power in Montana that it funded.
• A former superintendent of a Montana construction company was charged last month with making false statements regarding the quality of work his firm performed on a Federal bridge project in Idaho, a project that was funded with $21.6 million in stimulus money.
• Federal inspectors and auditors discovered that veterans seeking stimulus related benefits had claimed more than 16,000 dependents with Social Security numbers matching those of dead people.
• Other audits found more than 150 potential shell companies may have improperly received Recovery funds set aside just for the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business program.
• The audits also identified more than four hundred recipients of stimulus funds, from 15 different Federal agencies, who had previously been terminated for default, most getting the money after falsely certifying they had not been terminated for default.

There are about 1,900 more cases of potential fraud and waste that inspector generals, auditors, and eventually prosecutors will be going through in the coming months and years. Given that the Economic Stimulus failed miserably in attaining its stated goal of reducing unemployment to well under 6% and never allowing it to exceed 8%, these examples of fraud and wasteful, criminal spending just add insult to injury when it comes to taxpayer wealth.

But wait, there’s more! Recent government waste is not restricted only to stimulus funding. Consider these recently reported, totally unnecessary, wasteful expenditures of taxpayer money that went to vain, selfish top level government bureaucrats. Keep in mind that these expenses were incurred while 23 million Americans are unemployed or under employed and our national debt is now well over $16 TRILLION (these findings were posted at the Against Crony Capitalism website as reported by the Washington Times):

• The Environmental Protection Agency recently spent nearly $40,000 on a portrait of EPA top administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
• A painting of Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley will cost $41,200, according to Federal purchasing records.
• The price tag for a 3-by-4-foot oil portrait of Agriculture Department Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack will cost taxpayers $22,500. A 3 feet by 4 feet portrait, really? Talk about excessive spending and vanity.
• In total, the government has paid out at least $180,000 for official portraits just in the past year, based on an analysis of Federal expense records by The Washington Times of Federal agencies and military offices across government.

These are Federal bureaucrats. They have not saved people’s lives by running into a burning building. They have not heroically saved their fellow comrades lives in combat. They have not come up with a cure for cancer. They are not outstanding teachers making life long positive impacts on kids’ lives. Given how ineffective every Federal entity is, they have obviously not turned their respective organizations into a finely tuned, efficient government organization.

They are hum drum, short term, Federal bureaucrats who will be in their current jobs for only a few years. But that does not stop them from using taxpayer money to feed their egos and vanity to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just to get their portrait painted.

Wasteful spending. Criminal fraud. Vanity expenses. Yes, no American, rich or poor, should have to pay another penny in taxes until these and a myriad of other atrocities of wasted taxpayer wealth are addressed and eliminated.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w