50 Examples of Government Waste

October 6, 2009
50 Examples of Government Waste
by Brian M. Riedl
WebMemo #2642

Soaring government spending and trillion-dollar budget deficits have brought fiscal responsibility--and reducing government waste--back onto the national agenda. President Obama recently identified 0.004 of 1 percent of the federal budget as wasteful and proposed eliminating this $140 million from his $3.6 trillion fiscal year 2010 budget request. Aiming higher, the President recently proposed partially offsetting a costly new government health entitlement by reducing $622 billion in Medicare and Medicaid "waste and inefficiencies" over the next decade. Taxpayers may wonder why reducing such waste is now merely a bargaining chip for new spending rather than an end in itself.

It is possible to reduce spending and balance the budget. In the 1980s and 1990s, Washington consistently spent $21,000 per household (adjusted for inflation). Simply returning to that level would balance the budget by 2012 without any tax hikes. Alternatively, merely returning to the 2008 (pre-recession) spending level of $25,000 per household (adjusted for inflation) would likely balance the budget by 2019 without any tax hikes.

Not Easy, but Necessary

Reducing wasteful spending is not easy. Even the most useless programs are passionately supported by the armies of recipients, administrators, and lobbyists that benefit from their existence. Identifying inefficiencies and abuses is much easier than devising a system to fix them. Many lawmakers focus more on bringing home earmarks than on performing the less exciting task of government oversight. Exasperated taxpayers see the cost of government rise with no end in sight.

Of course, eliminating waste cannot balance the budget. Lawmakers must also rein in spending by reforming Social Security and Medicare and by eliminating government activities that are no longer affordable. Yet government waste is the low-hanging fruit that lawmakers must clean up in order to build credibility with the public for larger reforms.

Congress has allowed government employees to spend tax dollars on iPods, jewelry, gambling, exotic dance clubs, and $13,500 steak dinners. If lawmakers cannot even reduce this kind of waste, fraud, and abuse, taxpayers will be less likely to trust them to reform Social Security and Medicare.

Six Categories of Waste

The six categories of wasteful and unnecessary spending are:

Programs that should be devolved to state and local governments;
Programs that could be better performed by the private sector;
Mistargeted programs whose recipients should not be entitled to government benefits;
Outdated and unnecessary programs;
Duplicative programs; and
Inefficiency, mismanagement, and fraud.
The first four categories are generally subjective, and reasonable people can disagree on whether a given federal program falls under their purview. Yet the final two categories--duplication and inefficiency, mismanagement, and fraud--are comparatively easy to identify and oppose. Thus, they are heavily represented in the examples of government waste below:

The federal government made at least $72 billion in improper payments in 2008.[1]
Washington spends $92 billion on corporate welfare (excluding TARP) versus $71 billion on homeland security.[2]
Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.[3]
Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them--costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually--fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve.[4]
The Congressional Budget Office published a "Budget Options" series identifying more than $100 billion in potential spending cuts.[5]
Examples from multiple Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs.[6]
Washington will spend $2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink more responsibly on the job.[7]
A GAO audit classified nearly half of all purchases on government credit cards as improper, fraudulent, or embezzled. Examples of taxpayer-funded purchases include gambling, mortgage payments, liquor, lingerie, iPods, Xboxes, jewelry, Internet dating services, and Hawaiian vacations. In one extraordinary example, the Postal Service spent $13,500 on one dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, including "over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold." The 81 guests consumed an average of $167 worth of food and drink apiece.[8]
Federal agencies are delinquent on nearly 20 percent of employee travel charge cards, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars annually.[9]
The Securities and Exchange Commission spent $3.9 million rearranging desks and offices at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.[10]
The Pentagon recently spent $998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida.[11]
Over half of all farm subsidies go to commercial farms, which report average household incomes of $200,000.[12]
Health care fraud is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually.[13]
A GAO audit found that 95 Pentagon weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion in cost overruns.[14]
The refusal of many federal employees to fly coach costs taxpayers $146 million annually in flight upgrades.[15]
Washington will spend $126 million in 2009 to enhance the Kennedy family legacy in Massachusetts. Additionally, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) diverted $20 million from the 2010 defense budget to subsidize a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute.[16]
Federal investigators have launched more than 20 criminal fraud investigations related to the TARP financial bailout.[17]
Despite trillion-dollar deficits, last year's 10,160 earmarks included $200,000 for a tattoo removal program in Mission Hills, California; $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming; and $75,000 for the Totally Teen Zone in Albany, Georgia.[18]
The federal government owns more than 50,000 vacant homes.[19]
The Federal Communications Commission spent $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR driver David Gilliland.[20]
Members of Congress have spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars supplying their offices with popcorn machines, plasma televisions, DVD equipment, ionic air fresheners, camcorders, and signature machines--plus $24,730 leasing a Lexus, $1,434 on a digital camera, and $84,000 on personalized calendars.[21]
More than $13 billion in Iraq aid has been classified as wasted or stolen. Another $7.8 billion cannot be accounted for.[22]
Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, "Girls Gone Wild" videos, and at least one sex change operation.[23]
Auditors discovered that 900,000 of the 2.5 million recipients of emergency Katrina assistance provided false names, addresses, or Social Security numbers or submitted multiple applications.[24]
Congress recently gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 to paint a Chinook salmon on a Boeing 737.[25]
The Transportation Department will subsidize up to $2,000 per flight for direct flights between Washington, D.C., and the small hometown of Congressman Hal Rogers (R-KY)--but only on Monday mornings and Friday evenings, when lawmakers, staff, and lobbyists usually fly. Rogers is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which writes the Transportation Department's budget.[26]
Washington has spent $3 billion re-sanding beaches--even as this new sand washes back into the ocean.[27]
A Department of Agriculture report concedes that much of the $2.5 billion in "stimulus" funding for broadband Internet will be wasted.[28]
The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were refundable.[29]
Washington spends $60,000 per hour shooting Air Force One photo-ops in front of national landmarks.[30]
Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 on admission to entertainment events, $48,250 on gambling, $69,300 on cruises, and $73,950 on exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.[31]
Members of Congress are set to pay themselves $90 million to increase their franked mailings for the 2010 election year.[32]
Congress has ignored efficiency recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services that would save $9 billion annually.[33]
Taxpayers are funding paintings of high-ranking government officials at a cost of up to $50,000 apiece.[34]
The state of Washington sent $1 food stamp checks to 250,000 households in order to raise state caseload figures and trigger $43 million in additional federal funds.[35]
Suburban families are receiving large farm subsidies for the grass in their backyards--subsidies that many of these families never requested and do not want.[36]
Congress appropriated $20 million for "commemoration of success" celebrations related to Iraq and Afghanistan.[37]
Homeland Security employee purchases include 63-inch plasma TVs, iPods, and $230 for a beer brewing kit.[38]
Two drafting errors in the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act resulted in a $2 billion taxpayer cost.[39]
North Ridgeville, Ohio, received $800,000 in "stimulus" funds for a project that its mayor described as "a long way from the top priority."[40]
The National Institutes of Health spends $1.3 million per month to rent a lab that it cannot use.[41]
Congress recently spent $2.4 billion on 10 new jets that the Pentagon insists it does not need and will not use.[42]
Lawmakers diverted $13 million from Hurricane Katrina relief spending to build a museum celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers--the agency partially responsible for the failed levees that flooded New Orleans.[43]
Medicare officials recently mailed $50 million in erroneous refunds to 230,000 Medicare recipients.[44]
Audits showed $34 billion worth of Department of Homeland Security contracts contained significant waste, fraud, and abuse.[45]
Washington recently spent $1.8 million to help build a private golf course in Atlanta, Georgia.[46]
The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses; 40 percent of this funding goes to Fortune 500 companies.[47]
Congressional investigators were able to receive $55,000 in federal student loan funding for a fictional college they created to test the Department of Education.[48]
The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually not to farm their land.[49]
The Commerce Department has lost 1,137 computers since 2001, many containing Americans' personal data.[50]
Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit

Because many of these examples of waste overlap, it is not possible to determine their exact total cost. Yet it is evident that Washington loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually on spending that most Americans would certainly consider wasteful. Lawmakers seeking to rein in spending and budget deficits should begin by eliminating this least justifiable spending while also addressing long-term entitlement costs.

Brian M. Riedl is Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.


[1]Government Accountability Office, Improper Payments: Progress Made but Challenges Remain in Estimating and Reducing Improper Payments, GAO-09-628T, April 22, 2009, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09628t.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[2]The Cato Institute estimates that corporate welfare costs $92 billion annually (not even counting the $700 billion TARP legislation). SeeStephen Slivinski, "The Corporate Welfare State: How the Federal Government Subsidizes U.S. Businesses," Cato Institute, May 14, 2007, at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8230 (October 5, 2009). The White House has requested $71 billion for fiscal year 2010 homeland security spending. See Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, FY 2010: Analytic Perspectives (Supplemental Materials), May 2009, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/homeland.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[3]Office of Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), "Subcommittee Oversight Efforts Identify $1.1 Trillion in Waste or Questionable Spending," October 19, 2006, at http://coburn.senate.gov/oversight/?FuseAction=OversightAction
.Home&ContentRecord_id=611f1f4c-802a-23ad-475d-223d6490f308 (October 5, 2009).

[4]Figures include all federal programs rated "effective" or "results not demonstrated" by the George W. Bush Administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) assessment of all federal programs. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/ and http://www.whitehouse
.gov/omb/expectmore/part.xls.

[5]Congressional Budget Office, "Budget Options, Volume 1: Health Care," December 2008, athttp://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9925/12-18-Health
Options (October 5, 2009); "Budget Options, Volume 2," August 2009, at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/102xx/doc10294/08-06-BudgetOptions.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[6]Examples are drawn from Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, "Government at the Brink," Vols. I and II, June 2001; U.S. General Accounting Office, "Managing for Results: Using the Results Act to Address Mission Fragmentation and Program Overlap," August 1997, at http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/ai97146.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[7]Edwin Mora, "U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job," CNS News, May 12, 2009, at http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=47976 (October 5, 2009).

[8]Government Accountability Office, Government-wide Purchase Cards: Actions Needed to Strengthen Internal Controls to Reduce Fraudulent, Improper, and Abusive Purchases, GAO-08-333, March 2008, at http://www.gao.gov/
new.items/d08333.pdf (October 5, 2009); Marc Stewart, "Federal Gov't Questions TVA Spending," WBIR.com, February 27, 2009, at http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=79461 (October 5, 2009); Dan Eggen, "Federal Credit Cards Misused," The Washington Post, April 9, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04
/08/AR2008040802718.html (October 5, 2009).

[9]Robert Brodsky, "Report Paints Agencies as Deadbeat Travel Card Holders," Government Executive, May 28, 2009, at http://www.govexec.com
/story_page.cfm?articleid=42837&dcn=todaysnews (October 5, 2009).

[10]Laura Strickler, "SEC Spends Millions to Reorganize Desks," CBS News, April 8, 2009, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/07/cbsnews
_investigates/main4927475.shtml (October 5, 2009).

[11]Tony Capaccio, "Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers," Bloomberg, August 16, 2009, at http://www.bloomberg.com/
apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aY5OQ5xv9HR8 (October 5, 2009).

[12]Ted Covey et al., "Agriculture Income and Finance Outlook," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, November 2006, pp. 40 and 48.

[13]Carrie Johnson, "Medical Fraud a Growing Problem," The Washington Post, June 13, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article
/2008/06/12/AR2008061203915.html (October 5, 2009).

[14]Dana Hedgpeth, "GAO Blasts Weapons Budget," The Washington Post, April 1, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article
/2008/03/31/AR2008033102789.html (October 5, 2009).

[15]Christopher Conkey, "Federal Workers Accused of Abusing Business Class," The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2007, at http://online.wsj.com/
article/SB119136054325946827.html (October 5, 2009).

[16]Steve LeBlanc, "Feds Spending Millions on Kennedy Legacy," Associated Press, May 11, 2009, at http://wbztv.com/politics/tedkennedy/ted.kennedy
.legacy.2.956809.html (October 5, 2009); Bryan Bender, "Kerry Asks $20m for Kennedy Institute," The Boston Globe, September 25, 2009, at http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/09/25/
watchdog_groups_rap_20m_earmark_for_kennedy_institute/ (October 5, 2009).

[17]Ralph Vartabedian and Tom Hamburger, "Crimes Suspected in 20 Bailout Cases--for Starters," The Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2009, at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tarp-fraud21-2009
apr21,0,2443377.story (October 5, 2009).

[18]These and more examples of recent earmarks are at Brian Riedl, "Omnibus Spending Bill: Huge Spending and 9,000 Earmarks Represent Business as Usual," Heritage Foundation WebMemo No. 2318, March 2, 2009, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm2318.cfm.

[19] Brad Heath, "Gov't Losses Big in Home Market," USA Today, May 15, 2009, at http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2009-05-14
-govtown_N.htm (October 5, 2009).

[20] Ira Teinowitz, "FCC Goes NASCAR Racing to Publicize DTV," TV Week, October 2008, at http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/10/fcc_goes_nascar
_racing_to_publ.php (October 5, 2009).

[21] Louise Radnofsky and T. W. Farnam, "Lawmakers Bill Taxpayers for TVs, Cameras, Lexus," The Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2009, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124364352135868189.html (October 5, 2009); Jonathan E. Kaplan and Mandy Kozar, "Lawmakers Spend on Big Screens, Popcorn," The Hill, November 8, 2005.

[22]Dana Hedgpeth, "$13 Billion in Iraq Aid Wasted or Stolen, Ex-Investigator Says," The Washington Post, September 23, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/
AR2008092202053.html (October 5, 2009);Dan Friedman, "Report: Defense Department Cannot Fully Account for $7.8B Spent in Iraq," CongressDaily,May 22, 2008, at http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0508/052208cdpm2.htm (October 5, 2009).

[23]Associated Press, "Katrina Fraud Could Top $2 Billion," December 25, 2006, at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15587326/ (October 5, 2009); "FEMA Funds Spent on Divorce, Sex Change," June 14, 2006, at http://cbs4denver.com/national/FEMA.Divorce.Sex.2.268906.html (October 5, 2009).

[24]Government Accountability Office, Expedited Assistance for Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: FEMA's Control Weaknesses Exposed the Government to Significant Fraud and Abuse, GAO-06-403T, February 13, 2006, p. 11, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06403t.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[25]Wesley Loy, "Alaska Airlines Takes Flying Fish to a Whole New Level: $500,000 Grant from Federal Funding Pays for Custom Paint Job on Company's Passenger Jet," Anchorage Daily News, October 2, 2005.

[26]Halimah Abdullah, "Who Might Fly Somerset to D.C. and Back?," McClatchey, May 24, 2009, at http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news
/story/806331.html (October 5, 2009).

[27]CBS News, "Beach Restoration: Sending $$$ Out to Sea?," May 26, 2009, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/26/eveningnews/
main5041144.shtml (October 5, 2009).

[28]Michael Grabell, "Rural Broadband Stimulus Program Slammed in Gov't Report," ProPublica, April 14, 2009, at http://www.propublica.org/ion/
stimulus/item/rural-broadband-stimulus-program-slammed-in-govt-report
-414/ (October 5, 2009).

[29]Government Accountability Office, DOD Travel Cards: Control Weaknesses Led to Millions of Dollars in Unused Airline Tickets, GAO-03-398, March 2004, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04398.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[30]CBS News, "FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic," April 29, 2009, at http://wcbstv.com/topstories/air.force.one.2.996457.html (October 5, 2009); Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, "The Cost of Presidential and Vice Presidential Political Travel," March 2006, p. 3, at http://oversight.house.gov/documents/
20060316113550-47530.pdf (October 5, 2009).

[31]Government Accountability Office, Travel Cards: Air Force Management Focus Has Reduced Delinquencies, but Improvements in Controls Are Needed, GAO-03-298, December 20, 2002, p. 4, at http://www.gao.gov/new.
items/d03298.pdf (October 6, 2009); Travel Cards: Control Weaknesses Leave Navy Vulnerable to Fraud and Abuse, GAO-03-148T, October 8, 2002, p. 8, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03148t.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[32]Emily Yehle, "House May Get Big Boost for Election-Year Mailings," Roll Call, May 4, 2009.

[33]Department of Heath and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, "Compendium of Unimplemented Office of Inspector General Recommendations," May 2009, at http://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/
compendium/compendium2009.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[34]Christopher Lee, "Official Portraits Draw Skeptical Gaze," The Washington Post, October 21, 2008, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2008/10/20/AR2008102003627.html (October 6, 2009).

[35]Associated Press, "Washington Sends $1 Food Stamp Checks to 250,000," February 23, 2009, at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html
/localnews/2008775541_apwafoodstampchecks.html (October 6, 2009).

[36]Dan Morgan, Gilbert Gaul, and Sarah Cohen, "Farm Program Pays $1.3 Billion to People Who Don't Farm," The Washington Post, July 2, 2006, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/01/
AR2006070100962.html (October 6, 2009).

[37]Anne Plummer Flaherty, "Congress Ready for Its End of War Party," Associated Press, October 4, 2006, at http://www.presstelegram.com/
news/ci_4443037 (October 6, 2009).

[38]Government Accountability Office, Purchase Cards: Control Weaknesses Leave DHS Highly Vulnerable to Fraudulent, Improper, and Abusive Activity, GAO-06-1117, September 2006, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d061117.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[39]Jonathan Nicholson, "Congress Seems Unlikely to Correct Gaffes in Budget Bill Costing $2 Billion," BNA Daily Report for Executives, September 25, 2006.

[40]Steve Fogarty, "Stimulus Grant Funds a Quieter North Ridgeville," Chronicle-Telegram, May 22, 2009, at http://www.chroniclet.com/2009/05/
stimulus-grant-funds-a-quieter-north-ridgeville/ (October 6, 2009).

[41]Jonathan Rockoff, "NIH Paying $1.3 Million Monthly for Unused Lab," Baltimore Sun, December 2, 2007.

[42]Bennett Roth and Eric Rosenberg, "The Pentagon Says It Doesn't Need Any More C-17 Jets, but It Is Getting Them--at a Cost of $2.4 Billion--Thanks to the Texas Congressional Delegation," Houston Chronicle, September 30, 2007, at http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?
id=2007_4433833 (October 6, 2009).

[43]CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, December 6, 2005, at http://transcripts
.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/06/acd.01.html (October 6, 2009).

[44]David Stout, "Medicare Error Sends $50 Million in Refunds to Recipients," The New York Times, August 24, 2006, at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/
08/24/washington/24medicare.html (October 6, 2009).

[45]Griff Witte and Spencer S. Hsu, "Homeland Security Contracts Abused," The Washington Post, July 27, 2006, at http://www.washingtonpost.com
/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601683.html (October 6, 2009).

[46]Kevin Duffy, "Why Did the Federal Government Help This Golf Course?," Atlanta-Journal-Constitution, November 13, 2006.

[47]See Brian Riedl, "Congress Should Follow the President and Eliminate the Advanced Technology Program," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1828, March 1, 2005, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg1828.cfm.

[48]Government Accountability Office, Department of Education: Guaranteed Student Loan Program Vulnerabilities, GAO-03-268R, November 21, 2002, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03268r.pdf (October 6, 2009).

[49]The Department of Agriculture's Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers not to farm more than 40 million acres of farmland. See Brian Riedl, "How Farm Subsidies Harm Taxpayers, Consumers, and Farmers, Too," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 2043, June 20, 2007, at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Agriculture/bg2043.cfm.

[50]Associated Press, "Commerce Reports Losing 1,137 Laptops," September 21, 2006, athttp://washingtontimes.com/news/2006/sep/21/
20060921-115116-5387r/print (October 6, 2009).

Calif. violence shelters closing amid budget cuts

In the September 8, 2009 story "Calif. violence shelters closing amid budget cuts," Associated Press writer Juliet Williams reports that California's restriction of tax revenues is resulting in cuts to government services, such as domestic violence shelters. When people argue for tax cuts, should they also specify which government services they would like to reduce or eliminate?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Six domestic violence shelters in California have been forced to close while dozens more are scaling back services after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated all state funding for the program that supports them.

Shelters in the Central Valley town of Madera, the Sierra foothill town of Grass Valley and in Ventura County in Southern California have closed. Others in the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Bakersfield are on the verge of closing.

Many centers are laying off staff and closing satellite offices that serve remote areas of the state as they cope with the budget cuts. A national domestic violence group describes California's as the deepest cuts to such programs nationwide, even as other states have reduced funding.

In Madera County, officials have turned away six domestic violence victims and eight children since the county's only shelter closed Aug. 7, said Tina Figueroa, the shelter's director. The Martha Diaz Shelter served about 100 victims a year, many of them low-income and with no place else to turn, she said.

"Their only option is the local rescue mission, but they're reluctant to go there because it's a majority of men (who stay there)," Figueroa said. "Also, it's not protected. Anybody could walk in there."

Three families — mothers and their children — who were staying at the secret location also were forced to leave quickly when it was shuttered, she said.

The California Department of Public Health's Domestic Violence Program provided funding to 94 agencies statewide, some of which operate multiple shelters. Most also assist victims with restraining orders, legal aid, child services, money management and other life skills. Nearly all the agencies say they are cutting back on such assistance programs in the wake of the budget cuts.

Schwarzenegger eliminated the program's $20.4 million budget when he used his line-item authority to veto nearly $500 million in the revised budget passed by the Legislature. Lawmakers had voted to maintain the program but cut its budget by 20 percent, to $16.3 million.

"We were appalled by the governor's reckless action, in shock," said Sue Else, president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

She said a handful of other states, including Iowa, Illinois and New Jersey, have reduced funding for domestic violence programs this year, "but nothing like the devastating cuts completely eliminating the domestic violence budget in California."

California's program was created 15 years ago to fund local agencies for abuse victims after the high-profile death of Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson's former wife. The agencies also rely on grants from foundations, the federal government and private donors.

The state's 2009-10 budget still includes $5 million for other programs related to sexual assault and domestic violence, including prevention programs, crisis hotlines, shelters and funding for law enforcement.

"The governor understands how difficult these cuts are and sees the real Californians and the real consequences behind them, but had no other choice because the Legislature failed to pass a budget that closed the entire deficit," said Rachel Cameron, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger.

Advocates, however, say the decision was shortsighted.

According to the state attorney general's office, 113 people died in 2008 in cases related to domestic violence, a number that had dropped from a decade-high of 187 deaths in 2003. In 83 percent of the 2008 deaths, the perpetrator was the victim's husband or boyfriend. In 10 percent, the perpetrator was a wife or girlfriend.

"It's the cheapest form of safety the state can have. It's homicide prevention," said Eve Sheedy, director of domestic violence policy at the Los Angeles city attorney's office. "If you take the cost of arresting, trying, incarcerating someone for a serious physical crime or homicide and you compare that to what these shelters were getting, it's an unbelievable cost benefit."

She said domestic violence reports make up the majority of 911 calls, although many victims never reach out for help from police.

The national network, which conducts an annual survey of domestic-violence programs across the country, reported that 3,872 California victims were served during its 24-hour survey period in September 2008, more than half of them for emergency or temporary housing.

Nearly 700 were denied services, often because of short-staffing. About 310 were denied access to temporary shelter because none was available, according to the Washington, D.C.-based group.

A bill by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would restore $16.3 million for the program by taking money from a California fund designed to compensate injured crime victims or their survivors.

The legislation needs approval from Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, to move out of a committee and to the Assembly floor. Bass has not taken a position on the bill, said her spokeswoman, Shannon Murphy.

Because it's an urgency bill, it must pass the Senate and Assembly with a two-thirds vote by the end of the regular legislative session on Friday. Otherwise, it will die.

Failure to restore funding would "result in increased health care, law enforcement and other costs to the state," Yee said in a statement. "But more critically, it puts victims of domestic violence and their children in grave danger."

The governor also has not taken a position on the bill, Cameron said.

The group Crime Victims United of California opposes transferring money from the fund. Chairwoman Harriet Salarno said in a letter to Yee that raiding the fund would put a financial strain on the program for "one subset of victims in California."

She said some domestic violence victims might already be entitled to compensation, putting an added financial burden on the fund, which receives money from restitution fines, penalties against people convicted of crimes and traffic offenses, and the federal government.

Tara Shabazz, executive director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, said domestic violence victims also are crime victims, so it was logical to look to the fund for help in an emergency.

"These budget cuts have made domestic violence victims extremely vulnerable, and we hope that our allies advocating for crime victims will join us in exploring all means of keeping California's shelters open," she said.

Obama: Stimulus 'worked as intended'

According to Obama: Stimulus 'worked as intended', a July 11 2009 article by Eamon Javers in Politco:

President Barack Obama on Saturday touted his administration’s economic stimulus spending, saying that it pulled "our financial system and our economy back from the brink."

His remarks in an unusually long edition of his weekly radio and internet address came after a week in which unemployment hit 9.5 percent and Republicans increasingly denounced the stimulus as a failure.

After beginning with a recap of his "progress on these challenges abroad" during his trip overseas this week, Obama quickly pivoted to the stimulus and offered a direct challenge to right-wing critics of the government spending, saying they "have yet to offer a plausible alternative."

First, he sought to reframe the public’s expectations for the spending program. “The Recovery Act wasn’t designed to restore the economy to full health on its own, but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall,” Obama said. “It was designed to spur demand and get people spending again and cushion those who had borne the brunt of the crisis.”

And then he pronounced the stimulus plan a success: “In a little over one hundred days, this Recovery Act has worked as intended. It has already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession. It has delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working families and businesses. Without the help the Recovery Act has provided to struggling states, its estimated that state deficits would be nearly twice as large as they are now, resulting in tens of thousands of additional layoffs – layoffs that would affect police officers, teachers, and firefighters.”

That’s in part a rebuke of GOP lawmakers like House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) who pounced on rumblings in Washington of a second stimulus package. “All of this talk of a second stimulus bill, I think, is an admission on the part of the administration that their stimulus plan is not working,” Boehner said earlier in the week.

The president, though, said it’s too soon to label the stimulus a failure, and offered a response to both "those who felt that doing nothing was somehow an answer" and also those who wanted a bigger stimulus and "are already calling for a second recovery plan":

“As I made clear at the time it was passed, the Recovery Act was not designed to work in four months – it was designed to work over two years,” Obama said. “We also knew that it would take some time for the money to get out the door, because we are committed to spending it in a way that is effective and transparent.”

GOP unifies against any more stimulus spending

According to Associated Press writer Philip Elliott in a July 12, 2009 article "GOP unifies against any more stimulus spending":

WASHINGTON – Republicans lined up Sunday in opposition to a second economic stimulus package, a rare demonstration of unity from an out-of-power political party in search of a rallying cry against President Barack Obama.
Republicans called Obama's $787 billion spending plan a "flop" and said it hasn't fulfilled its hype. They criticized the White House for increasing the federal deficit and doing little to combat an unemployment rate that hit 9.5 percent in June.
"The reality is it hasn't helped yet," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "Only about 6.8 percent of the money has actually been spent. What I proposed is, after you complete the contracts that are already committed, the things that are in the pipeline, stop it."
Obama urged patience with his spending program, which administration officials acknowledge was designed with incorrect or incomplete economic data.
"The stimulus package is working exactly as we had anticipated," Obama told CNN in an interview from Ghana that aired on Sunday.
"We always anticipated that a big chunk of that money then would be spent not only in the second half of the year, but also next year. This was designed to be a two-year plan and not a six-month plan," he said.
Republicans, though, were not willing to sit by idly.
"I do think it is fair to say that the stimulus is a flop," said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va. "The goal that was set when we passed it was unemployment wouldn't rise past 8.5 percent, and what we see now is businesses just aren't hiring. Even the best projections have us losing 750,000 more jobs this year."
Congress passed Obama's economic stimulus plan over the objection of out-of-power Republican lawmakers. Since then, GOP aides on Capitol Hill and officials alike have seized on the spending's shortcomings and unfilled promises.
"A lot of it has been spent on ridiculous projects," said Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who was his party's presidential nominee last year.
Obama's allies defended the spending they helped usher into law.
"It's a two-year plan and we're four months into it," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Some, including billionaire Warren Buffett, have called for a second round of spending to steady the economy. Obama and his allies have said it's too early to make that decision; his critics, though, pledged to redouble their opposition to any second spending bill.
"I think that would be the biggest mistake we could ever make," McCain said.
Kyl and Durbin appeared on ABC's "This Week." Cantor spoke with "Fox News Sunday." McCain was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Is the U.S. Economic Decline Obama´s Fault?

An unsigned comment on Ben Smith's Politico story about Mark Sanford's marital infidelity is representative of the attitude many critics have toward Barack Obama:

This is a great story to chase to avoid taking about the failures of Obama's economic package. Warren Buffet declares Obama's economy is in shambles and no sign of being fixed. More and more people believe Obama will tax them to death and the coming depression is Obama's fault. Too much spending and too much taxing.

Posted By: | June 24, 2009 at 02:50 PM

Our current economic recession began in December 2007, long before Barack Obama became President on January 20, 2009. Most economists agree further decline was inevitable, regardless of who became the U.S. leader. Obama does favor higher taxes on the wealthiest members of society. Republicans, by contrast, tend to pursue policies that shift the tax burden to the middle and lower classes or to future generations. When talking in broad generalities, many people favor the reduction of government spending. Yet, few (if any) politicians publicly declare the specific government programs they wish to cut. If the American people are unwilling to support politicians who will reduce government spending, then the moral obligation to future generations is for current citizens to pay more in taxes. The author of the above comment seems unwilling to face that reality.

Arthur Laffer - Father of Our $11 Trillion Debt

Arthur Laffer, the Ph.D. economist who created the Laffer curve and is sometimes called "the father of supply-side economics", can also take credit as the father of our massive public debt.  The tax cuts (and subsequent revenue reductions) he inspired were not matched by decreases in government spending.  And contrary to the claims of supply-siders, the tax cuts did not result in extraordinary economic growth. (See Table B-4. Percent changes in real gross domestic product from the Economic Report of the President.)

Fiscal Policy - Taxation and Government Spending

Fiscal Policy – Taxation and Government Spending

Fiscal policy is the use of taxation and government spending to manage the macroeconomy by either increasing or decreasing overall spending on newly produced goods and services (i.e., aggregate demand). 

Aggregate demand (AD) for domestically produced goods and services is comprised of consumption spending (C), investment spending (I), government purchases of newly produced goods and services (G), and exports of domestically produced goods and services to foreign buyers (X) minus the items in consumption (C), investment (I), and government purchases (G) that are imported from foreign producers (M).  Thus,

AD = C + I + G + X – M

Expansionary fiscal policy seeks to increase overall spending (i.e., aggregate demand) by either: (a) increasing government purchases of newly produced goods and services (G), which is a direct effect, or (b) decreasing taxes to encourage more consumption (C) or investment (I) spending, which is an indirect effect because tax cuts might not result in new spending (e.g., if an individual uses the tax benefit to pay down credit card debt).  It is appropriate to use expansionary fiscal policy to reduce unemployment and attempt to slow or reverse economic downturns (recessions and depressions).

Contractionary fiscal policy seeks to decrease overall spending (i.e., aggregate demand) by either: (a) decreasing government purchases of newly produced goods and services (G), which is a direct effect, or (b) increasing taxes to discourage consumption (C) or investment (I) spending, which is an indirect effect because tax increases might not result in less spending (e.g., if an individual uses a credit card to maintain consumption).  It is appropriate to use contractionary fiscal policy to reduce inflation.

Fiscal policy has a political bias.  Citizens like expansionary fiscal policy, but dislike contractionary fiscal policy.  Because of this bias, society tends to rely more on monetary policy to manage the economy.

 

Taxation Principles

Efficiency – How much of a burden is imposed on society by the tax?  Example:  A poll tax (head tax) causes no distortions to behavior.  By contrast, an income tax may reduce the incentive to work.

Equity – How fair is the tax?

 

Who should pay taxes?

Benefits principle – Whoever receives the benefit of the government service should pay the tax to pay for it.  (e.g., fuel taxes to pay for roads and highways)

Ability-to-pay principle – People with a greater ability to pay tax should indeed pay more tax.  (But how much more?)

 

Taxes in Relation to Income

	Income	Tax Paid	% of Income	Tax Paid	% of Income	Tax Paid	% of Income
Lee	$25,000	$5,000	20%	$6,250	25%	$7,500	30%
Sandy	$50,000	$12,500	25%	$12,500	25%	$12,500	25%
Tracy	$100,000	$30,000	30%	$25,000	25%	$20,000	20%
		Progressive – the tax is a higher percentage of income for richer people.  Example:  individual income taxes (usually – but tax reforms, such as the reduction in the capital gains tax, make the tax proportional or regressive for some people).		Proportional – the tax is the same percentage of income for everyone. Example:  property taxes to the extent that assessments reflect differences in income.		Regressive – the tax is a higher percentage of income for poorer people.  Examples:  Social Security taxes, sales taxes, most fee (driver´s license, car registration, park admission fees, sewer and water assessments.)

(Not) Paying for Government

(Not) Paying For Government
October 27, 2004

Americans are metaphorically drunk. We are living under the delusion that we do not need to pay for government. We love politicians who cut our taxes while increasing government services. We’ve had too much to drink at the party, but the host is talking us into just one more. The hangover is coming. And the party host won’t be around to deal with it. The politicians who get us all liquored up will be long gone when the country is huddled over the toilet.

The public debt is close to $7.5 trillion. This is the net amount of money borrowed by the U.S. government since its inception. In the first 200 years of U.S. history, the federal government accumulated less than $1 trillion of debt. In the last 25 years, we’ve added $6.5 trillion. So the baby boom generation has enjoyed trillions of dollars worth of government services it has not paid for. In the midst of a war and increasing concerns about homeland security, you might think Americans would be willing to contribute more to financially support the government. Yet, we insist on further tax cuts. Americans are incredible hypocrites. We profess to support the spread of freedom and democracy around the world, but are unwilling to pay the costs of doing so.

The American political system is biased toward fiscal irresponsibility. We don’t like politicians who tell us it’s good for us to pay our bills. It’s like your mother telling you to eat your vegetables. We much prefer the babysitter who lets us eat cake and ice cream for dinner. But gorging ourselves on sweets leads to an upset stomach.

Some astute members of Congress found a way to control the political bias in public finance. The 1990 Budget Enforcement Act initiated a pay-as-you go rule (commonly referred to as pay-go). Under pay-go, any increased spending on entitlement programs (such as Social Security or Medicare) or tax cuts must be offset by reductions is government spending or tax increases. Prior to pay-go, it was too easy for Congress to spend money or cut taxes without concern for its effect on the federal budget. And the program was extremely effective in enforcing fiscal discipline. Most analysts think the pay-go rule deserves much of the credit for the federal budget surpluses of late 1990s that began to pay down the huge public debt.

Some politicians don’t like to eat their vegetables, however. They want to enjoy government services and not pay for them. So the House of Representatives recently abandoned the pay-go provisions applied to tax cuts. And the result has been a return to massive budget deficits. This year alone we’ll add half a trillion dollars to the public debt.

A contributing factor to this fiscally irresponsible behavior has been declining interest rates, which have reached their lowest levels in forty years. When it’s cheap to borrow money, it’s easy to ignore the costs. But the only direction left for interest rates to move is up. Higher interest rates will require larger government expenditures just to pay the interest on the borrowed money and significant increases in taxes or reductions in government services to reduce the public debt. Future generations, including today’s college students, will bear the costs of this behavior. So have another drink or piece of cake and enjoy the party. But the pain is coming. Pass the Pepto-Bismol.

State & Local Government Spending

State & Local Government Spending

Over half of all state and local government spending is devoted to education, public welfare, and highways.

U.S. State and Local Government Receipts by Category
(Billions of dollars)
Fiscal Year[4]
Total
General Expenditures[5]
Education
Highways
Public Welfare
All Other Expenditures[6]
2001-2002
1,735
595
115
284
741
2000-2001
1,626
564
107
262
694
1999-2000
1,507
522
101
237
647
1998-1999
1,402
483
93
219
607
1997-1998
1,318
450
87
208
572
1996-1997
1,250
418
82
204
546
1995-1996
1,193
399
79
197
518
Source: Economic Report of the President, Feb. 2005

2009 U.S. Federal Budget - by category of spending

Click on the image above to enlarge it.

The Budget of the United States Government provides a breakdown of federal government spending by category.

The President's budget for 2009 totals $3.1 trillion. Percentages in parentheses indicate percentage change compared to 2008. This budget request is broken down by the following expenditures:

Mandatory spending: $1.89 trillion (+6.2%)
$644 billion - Social Security
$408 billion - Medicare
$224 billion - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
$360 billion - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
$260 billion - Interest on National Debt

Discretionary spending: $1.21 trillion (+4.9%)
$515.4 billion - United States Department of Defense
$145.2 billion(2008*) - Global War on Terror
$70.4 billion - United States Department of Health and Human Services
$45.4 billion - United States Department of Education
$44.8 billion - United States Department of Veterans Affairs
$38.5 billion - United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
$38.3 billion - State and Other International Programs
$37.6 billion - United States Department of Homeland Security
$25.0 billion - United States Department of Energy
$20.8 billion - United States Department of Agriculture
$20.3 billion - United States Department of Justice
$17.6 billion - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$12.5 billion - United States Department of the Treasury
$11.5 billion - United States Department of Transportation
$10.6 billion - United States Department of the Interior
$10.5 billion - United States Department of Labor
$8.4 billion - Social Security Administration
$7.1 billion - United States Environmental Protection Agency
$6.9 billion - National Science Foundation
$6.3 billion - Judicial branch (United States federal courts)
$4.7 billion - Legislative branch (United States Congress)
$4.7 billion - United States Army Corps of Engineers
$0.4 billion - Executive Office of the President
$0.7 billion - Small Business Administration
$7.2 billion - Other agencies
$39.0 billion(2008*) - Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending

The financial cost of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are not part of the defense budget; they are appropriations.

SIX CATEGORIES OF SPENDING COMPRISE MORE THAN 75% OF THE U.S. FEDERAL BUDGET:

$644 billion - Social Security
$408 billion - Medicare
$224 billion - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
$360 billion - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
$260 billion - Interest on National Debt
$515.4 billion - United States Department of Defense

SERIOUS DISCUSSIONS ABOUT REDUCING THE SIZE AND SCOPE OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENDING MUST ADDRESS THESE CATEGORIES.

Federal Government Spending

.
2010 U.S. Federal Budget - by category of spending

2009 U.S. Federal Budget - by category of spending

Click the links above.

THIS TABLE NEEDS TO BE FORMATTED AND UPDATED.

U.S. Federal Government Expenditures by Category
(Billions of dollars)
Fiscal Year
Total Expend-itures
National Defense
Inter-national Affairs
Health
Medicare
Income Security
Social Security
Net Interest
Other
2006
estimates
2,567.6
447.4
38.4
268.4
345.7
359.5
544.8
211.1
352.2
2005
estimates
2,479.4
465.9
32.0
257.5
295.4
350.9
519.7
177.9
380.1
2004
2,292.2
455.9
26.9
240.1
269.4
332.8
495.5
160.2
311.3
2003
2,159.9
404.9
21.2
219.6
249.4
334.4
474.7
153.1
302.6
2002
2,011.0
348.6
22.4
196.5
230.9
312.5
456.0
170.9
273.2
2001
1,863.0
304.9
16.5
172.3
217.4
269.6
433.0
206.2
243.3
2000
1,789.1
294.5
17.2
154.5
197.1
253.6
409.4
222.9
239.8
1999
1,701.9
274.9
15.2
141.1
190.4
242.4
390.0
229.8
218.1
1998
1,652.6
268.5
13.1
131.4
192.8
237.7
379.2
241.1
188.8
1997
1,601.2
270.5
15.2
123.8
190.0
235.0
365.3
244.0
157.4
1996
1,560.5
265.8
13.5
119.4
174.2
229.7
349.7
241.1
167.3
1995
1,515.8
272.1
16.4
115.4
159.9
223.7
335.8
232.1
160.3
Source: Economic Report of the President, Feb. 2005

The largest category of federal government expenditure is Social Security. Social Security is the government program that imposes taxes on wage earners and employers, and provides old-age, survivors’, disability, and medical benefits to workers covered under the Social Security Act. It is an example of a transfer payment. A transfer payment is a government payment not made in exchange for a good or service.

The second largest expense for the federal government is national defense. National defense includes both the salaries of military personnel and the purchases of military equipment, such as guns, fighter jets, and warships.

Another large category of federal government expenditure is income security, which includes most entitlement programs. Income security includes transfer payments to poor families. One program is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), often simply called “welfare.” Another is the Food Stamp program, which gives poor families vouchers that they can use to buy food. The federal government pays some of this money to state and local governments, which administer the programs under federal guidelines.

The federal government also spends billions of dollars each year for interest payments on borrowed funds. If the government fails to collect enough revenues to cover annual expenditures, it borrows funds to pay its bills. Funds are borrowed from American and foreign citizens, foreign governments, and U.S. government agencies. For example, the Social Security system is designed to collect more in Social Security taxes now than it needs to pay current benefits. The additional Social Security funds are collected now to help pay for the huge increase in Social Security benefits that is expected in the future. The federal government borrows some of these Social Security funds to pay current general expenses. Unless these funds are repaid, however, they will not be available to pay future Social Security benefits. Net interest is the amount the government pays on loans from the public. It does not represent the gross interest due on the entire public debt.

Medicare is the government’s health plan for the elderly. Spending in this category has risen substantially over time for two reasons. First, the elderly population has grown more quickly than the overall population. Second, the cost of health care has risen more rapidly than the cost of other goods and services.

Health spending includes Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor. It also includes spending on medical research, such as through the National Institutes of Health.

If Medicare and health expenses are added together, however, they would make up the second largest federal government expense.

The “other” category includes the federal court system, the space program, farm-support programs, and the salaries of Congress and the president.

Attempts to reduce spending on most of these categories face stiff opposition from some constituents. Of the major expenditure categories, decreased spending on net interest probably faces the least opposition. A reduction in net interest spending can be achieved by a reduction in the public debt. The public debt can be reduced if the federal government collects more in revenues than it spends.

Government Spending

Part 2: Government Spending

The U.S. government expenditures in fiscal year 2002 were $2.011 trillion. This compares to U.S. GDP in 2002 of $10.4 trillion and World GDP in 2002 of $49 trillion.

Since the primary function of taxation is to provide revenue for the government, many people argue one way to reduce the tax burden in the United States is to reduce government spending. Even if most people agree to decrease government spending, it is difficult to reach a consensus on which spending to cut. Most people favor the reduction of government spending that reduces the benefits to other people. For example, wealthy people may support reductions in welfare payments to poor people. Poor people, by contrast, would be more likely to support the reduction of government spending that primarily benefits the rich.

For many years, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings did a weekly feature entitled “Your Money” which showcased wasteful government spending. For example, the federal government spent $1 million to build a single bathroom building at a national park. If the government eliminated all the potentially wasteful spending highlighted by ABC News, however, it would hardly make a dent in the federal budget. If one is serious about reducing expenditures, one must consider the larger categories of federal government spending.





“There's only one kind of tax that would please everybody – one that nobody but the other guy has to pay.”

– Earl Wilson

Fiscal Policy - Topics

The primary macroeconomic policy goals are economic growth, low unemployment, and low inflation. The main tools to achieve these goals are monetary policy and fiscal policy.

Fiscal policy is the use of taxation and government spending to influence the overall level of spending in the economy.

Click on the hyperlinks below to take you to a portion of the blog devoted to that topic.

Fiscal Policy - Learning Objectives
Using Fiscal Policy to Manage the Economy
Taxation
The Efficiency of a Tax System - Overview
The Efficiency of a Tax System – the Effect on Incentives & Behavior
The Efficiency of a Tax System – the Administrative Burden
The Equity of a Tax System
The Sources of U.S. Federal Government Revenues
The Individual Income Tax
Social Insurance Taxes
Marginal Tax Rates Versus Average Tax Rates
Alternatives to the Current Individual Income Tax
Lump-Sum Taxes
The Flat Tax
Consumption Taxes
Tax Burden in the U.S.
Central Government Tax Revenue as Percentage of GDP
Tax Revenue as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product
Federal Government Taxation
State & Local Government Taxation
Government Spending
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW)
Federal Government Spending
State & Local Government Spending
Deficits & the Debt
U.S. Public Debt Since 1940
U.S. Public Debt Since 1940 - Adjusted for Inflation
U.S. Public Debt as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The Economics of Conservatives and Liberals
(Not) Paying for Government
Definitions - Fiscal Policy
Fiscal Policy - Questions for Further Study
Fiscal Policy - Taxation and Government Spending
The U.S. Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2009
U.S. Federal Budget - Fiscal Year 2008