For those of you writing a check to the Department of Treasury as part of your 2015 tax preparation , you may be smacking yourself wondering where all your hard earned money is going. Because unearned money is never spent well, we have a feeling those of you who are easily irked should not read on, but for the rest of us (and because we have a presidential election coming up) we have gathered the top ten list of government waste and your taxes.
1. Weaponized Waste
In 2008, government auditors published a scathing review of dozens of the biggest weapons systems in the Pentagon that were years beyond schedule and billions over budget. This included ships, satellites, and aircraft that have and may never see the light of day but have found their way into wallet. One of the highlights of this boondoggle is the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships that do not seem seaworthy at all and were so bad even the Pentagon itself cancelled new construction on third and fourth ships. And if you think it’s only a small percentage, it actually applied to 95% of the Pentagon’s projects.
Total cost to tax payers: $295 billion.
2. Ineffective Programs
The site ExpectMore.gov is a government run program that examines other government run programs. Their auditors spent years examining all federal programs and concluded 22% of them were ineffective or failed to show any improvement in the communities they served.
Total cost to tax payers: $123 billion.
3. Budget BS
The Congressional Budget Office is also yet another government agency that identifies waste (but is powerless to do anything about it) and found that there were ways to cut costs of existing offices without eliminating any of them. Not a single suggestions seems to be implemented, but had they been they would have saved:
Total cost to tax payers: $100 billion.
4. Corporate Welfare
Why help families who are poor, sick, and/or in need when you can give billions to multi-million dollar corporations? According to the CATO institute, the government gives billions in corporate welfare to those who won’t lose their homes or retirement if they don’t get it – and this doesn’t even include the $700 billion gift of TARP.
Total cost to tax payers: $92 billion per year
5. Medicare/ Medicaid Fraud
It’s not hard, just get accredited as a healthcare provider who accepts Medicare and/or Medicaid and start filing claims. Don’t believe us? In 2010, 1,600 businesses in Miami alone bilked you and me out of $251 million in phony claims. 481 of them didn’t even exist and only 94 people were found to be indicted.
Total cost to tax payers: $60 to $90 billion per year
6. More Medicare Malarkey
Why bother setting up a fraudulent front, when you could just file correctly and let Medicare pay the wrong person, wrong amount, or for the wrong reason? Think it doesn’t happen that often? Only to the tune of…
Total cost to tax payers: $50 billion per year
7. Parking Lots Make More
Ever heard the old saying that a parking lot could make more money? When it comes to the fed, it’s true. They spend billions per year maintaining properties that are vacant or unused, which can go on for years, if not decades. Not only could the cost of maintenance be saved, but money could actually be made and the properties put to use for the public. But instead…
Total cost to tax payers: $25 billion per year
8. Vanishing V.A.
We won’t mention the disgraceful treatment of the veterans by the agency paid and bonsued in the billions to take care of them. We will mention the millions spent by them to maintain hundreds of buildings that they do not even use, the most outrageous of which is a pink, octagonal monkey house in Ohio.
Total cost to tax payers: $175 million per year
9. Late Fees
Ever have a corporate charge card and were forced to sign a huge document concerning it lest you be held financially and employable responsible? We think government employees should as well given are late on about a fifth of their travel charge cards.
Total cost to tax payers: $100’s of million per year
10. The Only Way to Fly
Ever fly first class? Federal employees don’t, and their insistence on not flying coach and adding upgrades costs us huge. Wonder how much is just for inflight drinks and headsets?
Total cost to tax payers: $146 million per year
Houston Tax Preparation
And if you live in the Houston area and are in need of tax preparation to help you minimized your subsidizing all of this, please contact me.