Commentary - February 2002

Where Are Our Tax Dollars Going –

And What’s That Flushing Sound?

by Lyle Brennan

I’ve been reading a book I got for Christmas - The No Spin Zone, by Bill O’Reilly. It’s one of those books that’s full of facts you’d rather not read because they make you so darn mad. On the other hand, I figure it’s my duty as a citizen, a businessman and a publisher to be informed about politics, so I am biting the bullet in order to be reminded of the bitter truth. I recommend it to any of you who pay taxes. The Tax Foundation estimates the average American working person labors three hours out of eight each day to pay his or her federal taxes. And that’s not counting state taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, luxury taxes and surcharges on everything from cell phones to rental cars.

Paying the government 40 cents out of every dollar I make wouldn’t be so bad if I knew the money was being used for worthwhile purposes, such as national defense or interstate highways. But, even when Congress decides to spend my tax dollars on things I don’t want, such as studying the mating habits of trout or funding obscene art exhibits, at least I can be sure the agencies who receive those dollars are properly audited by a federal agency to ensure there is no waste or fraud involved – can’t I? The General Accounting Office (GAO) has auditors examining the books of each government agency to make sure everything’s on the up-and-up – doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, as O’Reilly reports, "With trillions in annual spending, there is no government agency that actually watches the money! That’s right. Congress allocates the money, but there is no separate government department to oversee its use." Each government agency keeps its own books and audits its own expenses. (Maybe it’s the honor system.) These audits are then sent to the U.S. Treasury, which consolidates them and sends them to the GAO. The GAO is called to investigate a situation only when there is a suspicion of fraud. And by that time, the money – our money – is long gone. No wonder horrible examples of waste like these are rampant:

1. In the last years of the Clinton administration, 26,000 Americans received $8.5 million in food stamps. Nothing unusual, you say? These particular food stamp recipients were dead.

2. During that same period of time, the GAO estimates that more than $100 billion (with a "B") was erroneously sent to Medicare recipients.

3. Title One programs, set up 25 years ago to improve education for underprivileged children, have cost taxpayers $125 billion, and yet, over 60 percent of poor children in the fourth grade are functionally illiterate.

4. The Osprey helicopter project has cost taxpayers more than $40 billion since 1982, but it is so unsafe that many Marine commanders refuse to let their troops fly in it.

5. The Clinton Administration sent $3 billion to Haiti. (Don’t ask why – we taxpayers just foot the bills for these spontaneous acts of generosity.) However, only $2 billion of it has been accounted for. What happened to the other billion?

6. The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) reports that in Clinton’s eight years in office, he made almost as many trips abroad as Presidents Carter, Reagan and Bush combined, to the tune of $525 million. During the year of his impeachment (1998), taxpayers funded a $43 million trek to Africa in which he took along several staffers who would not normally accompany him – but who were called to testify in the Lewinsky matter.

The federal government is not the only agency that bears watching. Our city, county and state governments are making decisions every day that affect you and me as taxpayers. Here’s a prime example of money being wasted in our own state. The University of Nevada, Reno decided several years ago to build a Fire Science Academy in Carlin. It was intended to attract firefighters from all over the world and be a big money-maker for the university. Unfortunately, the project was a disaster from Day One, and has been closed for over a year. In order to satisfy creditors, university regents had to come up with $31 million. So the regents voted on Jan. 16 to tap student fees for a bail-out scheme. Now, whenever UNR students (including my own children) pay tuition fees, they will be paying for the regents’ mishandling of the Fire Science Academy instead of using the money to construct buildings on campus or pay for support services to help students as they pursue their degrees. Who was watching when this was going on?

It’s up to us to be informed and aware of what’s going on. Start taking an interest in where your money is spent, and if you find something you don’t like, speak up and let others know. During the next legislative session, watch those money bills. We may not have a federal watchdog agency, but as citizens and taxpayers we can be our own watchdogs. If we do our job right, politicians and bureaucrats will learn to respect our bite.

Resources:

Nevada Taxpayers Association Nevadataxpayers.org

National Taxpayers Union ntu.org

Citizens Against Government Waste cagw.org

Taxpayers for Common Sense taxpayer.net

Americans for Tax Reform atr.org

Lyle Brennan Publisher
COMMENTS? email: lyle@nbj.com