Coburn's Waste Book

[RickN]

He puts this out every year, and every year I get mad that no one in DC from any party does a thing about it. Yet they want to raise taxes or cut benefits. STUPID!!!!

A few highlights of the roughly 100 examples coming to about $19 billion. The GAO has found hundreds of billions that could be saved by good government.

Though skeptics say there's no such thing as a free cellphone or service funded by the federal government, Coburn's report shows otherwise. It estimates that taxpayers are subsidizing phone service at a cost of nearly $1.5 billion a year. Though the roots of the program can be traced back to an effort in the 1930s to make sure all Americans had access to telecommunications, it has morphed into program that provided free cell service to some 16,500,000 participants last year.

- Though NASA has no plans or budget for any manned spaceflights to Mars, the agency spends about $1 million each year on developing "the Mars menu." It's an effort to come up with a variety of food that humans could eat one day on Mars.

- A $325,000 grant for the development of "Robosquirrel" - a robotic rodent designed to test the interaction between rattlesnakes and squirrels.

- An estimated $70 million loss for producing pennies. According to the Waste Book, "The cost to produce a penny in 2012 is more than two times its actual value." After the pennies are manufactured and sold at face value, taxpayers are left to cover the loss.

- The report spotlights widespread abuse of the food stamp system - including an exotic dancer who earned more than $85,000 a year in tips, but also collected nearly $1,000 a month in food stamps while spending $9,000 during that time period on "cosmetic enhancements."

- Nearly $700,000 from the National Science Foundation to a New York-based theater company so it could develop a musical about climate change and biodiversity. "The Great Immensity" opened in Kansas City this year. Along with the songs one reviewer described as sounding like "a Wikipedia entry set to music," the audience was also able to experience "flying monkey poop."

http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public...&File_id=038f5f50-514b-42a8-b929-a440e188e8af

How many of you knew that the NFL gets tax exempt status?

 

[Old Fart]

Grrrrr!

 

[JD8]

How many of you knew that the NFL gets tax exempt status?

This doesn't bother me a bit, they promote a huge business that allows the government to get it's money several times over the 193 million or whatever they are worried about taxing. From the player's salaries down to the$100 jersey's and $10 beers they sell...... the stat and local govs get their money.

 

[Dave70968]

This doesn't bother me a bit, they promote a huge business that allows the government to get it's money several times over the 193 million or whatever they are worried about taxing. From the player's salaries down to the$100 jersey's and $10 beers they sell...... the stat and local govs get their money.

The same argument could be made of nearly any business. Mind you, I'm in favor of doing away with the fiction that is corporate taxation, but if we're going to have it, it should be applied evenly.

 

[JD8]

The same argument could be made of nearly any business. Mind you, I'm in favor of doing away with the fiction that is corporate taxation, but if we're going to have it, it should be applied evenly.

As long as churches get a free ride to promote whatever religion they choose, I can live with the NFL getting tax free fees to promote football. Again they also promote a significant amount of markets that bring in a ton of tax revenue. Churches receive billions every year, and barely stimulate the economy if at all.

 

[tntrex]

I bet robosquirrel got the ladies

 

[Dave70968]

As long as churches get a free ride to promote whatever religion they choose, I can live with the NFL getting tax free fees to promote football. Again they also promote a significant amount of markets that bring in a ton of tax revenue. Churches receive billions every year, and barely stimulate the economy if at all.

Churches are (nominally) nonprofit, and receive the same treatment as other nonprofits. The NFL is decidedly for-profit, but gets exemptions that other for-profit business don't get. Comparing churches to the NFL is an apples-to-oranges comparison, regardless of how many people worship at the great glass screen.

Here's a fun fact for you: the NFL, like other major sports leagues, is exempt from antitrust legislation, thus enabling it to legally monopolize a market where another company would face legal sanction. Just another exemption from the rules, nothing to see here.

 

[Fatboy Joe]

How do you know churches are non-profit? Have you seen their tax returns? Oh yeah, they don't have to file them, or any other financial statement. Preachers making six and seven figure incomes...

 

[austin.brown]

I had to quit reading this...

My biggest complaint is the abuse of the food stamps program. There was a time I had to work 2 jobs which came to about 70 hours a week to make ends meet. My wife and I had been married for less than 2 years and were eating chicken and vegetables pretty much for every meal. I worked at a grocery store in the evenings and almost could not go to work on the first, because of the CRAPthat was purchased on the food stamps card. I got to the point I did not even want to ring certain customers. I was eating chicken and drinking water while these fatties were buying prepared/frozen meals and/or steak with gallons of pop and huge bags of candy. It makes my blood boil even now.

 

[Lurker66]

I had to quit reading this...

My biggest complaint is the abuse of the food stamps program. There was a time I had to work 2 jobs which came to about 70 hours a week to make ends meet. My wife and I had been married for less than 2 years and were eating chicken and vegetables pretty much for every meal. I worked at a grocery store in the evenings and almost could not go to work on the first, because of the CRAPthat was purchased on the food stamps card. I got to the point I did not even want to ring certain customers. I was eating chicken and drinking water while these fatties were buying prepared/frozen meals and/or steak with gallons of pop and huge bags of candy. It makes my blood boil even now.

im certain theres alot of foodstamp abuse, perhaps youd rather see them starve, instead of eating tv dinners and candy. Me? I think its a good program that needs some enforcement.