Pig Book Exposes Pork-Barrel Spending
Despite a growing federal budget deficit, members of Congress continue to appropriate a record $22.9 billion in pork this year to their respective districts and states. Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has issued its 2004 Congressional Pig Book Summary which documents the amount of pork money that Congress has taken from taxpayers.
Since 1991, CAGW has published the Pig Book as a useful tool for taxpayers. It points out that too many members of Congress are more concerned about "bringing home the bacon" for their re-election than they are about the fiscal future of the country. Because of this outlook, Congress has helped create a $521-billion deficit and a $7.1-trillion national debt. Appropriators included 10,656 projects in the 13 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2004, which is an increase of 13% over last year's 9,362. CAGW outlines 630 of these projects in its latest annual publication.
The following are excerpts of wasteful spending from the Pig Book:
- $50 million added in conference for an indoor rainforest project in Coralville, Iowa, but Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R.-Iowa).
- $15 million added by the House for dairy development programs overseas under the U.S. Agency for International Development. The taxpayers are getting milked dry by this project.
- $6.8 million in YMCA funding.
- $2.25 million in various Shakespeare-related funding.
- $2.2 million for North Pole, Alaska, which has a population of 1,570.
- $1.3 million for the Western Heritage Center in Billings, Mont.
- $500,000 for Anaheim Resort Transit (Disneyland) buses in the district of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D.-Calif).
- $175,000 added by the House for the Wichita Art Museum in the district of House appropriator Todd Tiahrt (R.-Kan.).
- $50,000 for the Alaska Moving Image Preservation Association in Anchorage to digitize files, photos and videos of Alaska history.
Some members of Congress were honored by CAGW with special awards. For example, Sen. Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) received the "Hall of Shame" award for his dedicated 23 years of pork barreling at taxpayers' expense, and the "Byrd Droppings" award went to Sen. Robert Byrd (D.-W.Va.) for his $238 million in pork for his home state.
States with the highest pork per capita included Alaska with $525 million, and Hawaii with $495 million. The Pig Book stressed that the common thread in the top two states is that they are represented by powerful senators and appropriators-Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R.-Alaska) and the number two Democrat on that committee, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D.-Hawaii).
For more information about the Pig Book, visit the website: www.cagw.org or call 1-800-BE-ANGRY.
Taxes More Taxing As Paper Work Mounts
Americans needed an extra cup of coffee (or two) as they filed their taxes due to the federal government's tinkering with the Tax Code. With April 15 still fresh in the minds of taxpayers, a new study measuring tax complexity from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is quite timely.
The study points out that a billion extra hours have been added to the annual paperwork for American taxpayers because of a rise in complex forms and instructions.
"Federal income tax rates have often risen and fallen, but the complexity of the tax system itself has almost always gone in one direction-upwards," said NTU Senior Counselor and study author David Keating.
Thanks to the increased number of citizens who will be ensnared by the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)-a parallel tax system once ensuring the wealthy paid a substantial tax bill-the complexity will likely grow. Keating notes that by 2010, as many as 32-million taxpayers could be forced to complete a second tax return for (and pay) the AMT.
The following points are some of the findings of the study:
- It now takes the average American 28 hours and 30 minutes to prepare the 1040 "long" form with the three common Schedules A, B and D-an increase of 34% since 1995. The 1040A "short" form, along with Schedule 1, takes nearly as long to prepare as the long form did nine years ago (11 hours, 32 minutes).
- Today, taxpayers must wade through 131 pages of instructions for the standard 1040 form, which is more than triple the number in 1975 and over double the number in 1985, the year before taxes were "simplified."
- The number of returns prepared by tax professionals continue to grow, reaching a record 62.1% (as of April 2 of the current 2003 tax year). Counting computer-prepared returns would raise that figure to 88.4%.
(Source: David Keating, "NTU Policy Paper 113, A Taxing Trend: The Rise in Complexity, Forms, and Paperwork Burdens," National Taxpayers Union.)
For the complete text of this study visit: www.ntu.org.
Anti-War Movement To Protest Political Conventions
The current issue of Organization Trends, put out by the Capital Research Center, highlights the activities of the growing anti-war movement.
This summer, Bush Administration officials look forward to the Republican Party re-nomination of the President at home and the establishment of Iraqi democratic government abroad. With a close election anticipated between President Bush and John Kerry, the anti-war movement could play a role in this year's political events.
Last October 25, some 30,000 to 50,000 activists converged on Washington, D.C., from over 1,400 cities to protest the Bush Administration's global war on terrorism. Witnesses said it resembled anti-Vietnam peace protests of three decades ago. An organization called A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) spearheads the protest movement. Anti-war protest groups are promising to launch demonstrations around the nation, especially this summer during the Republican convention in New York City and the Democrat convention in Boston.
ANSWER was organized following Sept. 11, 2001, to serve as the anti-war movement's source of anti-U.S. protest activity. It includes major Marxist and anti-American groups-most prominently, Ramsey Clark (U.S. attorney general during the Johnson Administration), and his International Action Center (IAC). Clark proposes to "end racism, sexism, and poverty in the United States, with opposition to U.S. militarism and exploitative domination around the world." Experts charge that IAC is a front group for the World Worker's Party-a Stalinist organization. Members defend North Korea, Fidel Castro, Iraq and terrorist groups such as Hamas.
Many of the anti-war groups receive funding from mainstream liberal donors. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), which works hand-in-hand with ANSWER, has received substantial contributions from the Turner Foundation, Ford Foundation and MacArthur Foundation, among others.
(Source: John J. Tierney, "The Anti-War Movement in 2004," Capital Research Center.)
For more information about this issue of Organization Trends, visit www.capitalresearch.org.
