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Democratic presidential nominees Vice President Kamala Harris The government wants to raise taxes by trillions of dollars, which will undoubtedly worsen our faltering economy.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has a better idea: lower taxes and rein in government spending. The former president, speaking recently at the Economics Club of New York, promised that if he wins in November, he would create a government efficiency commission to root out “fraud and improper payments,” and Elon Musk has agreed to lead the effort. Asking the smartest man on the planet to streamline our bloated, inefficient and irresponsible federal government — that’s the plan to spend $7 trillion next year — it’s the kind of bizarre idea that helped Trump win in 2016 and could sway voters again this November.
Two-thirds of Americans think they pay too much in taxes. If they found out how much of their tax money is wasted or outright stolen, they might revolt. In 2022, about $47 billion in Medicare payments were found to be “improper,” while Congress has determined that more than half of the taxes paid are underpaid. trillion of the dollar covid relief funds It was probably stolen. Billions of dollars are misappropriated each year on community grants that eventually go to waste Wealthy communitiesMaintaining thousands of vacant buildings owned by Uncle Sam or funding duplicative and wasteful federal programs.
For example, currently, 43 Job Training Programmes in 9 federal agencies, which costs taxpayers about $20 billion a year. A study conducted by the Department of Labor in 2022 concluded that the programs provide Zero Profit Unfortunately, legislators get credit for starting new programs; no one gets applauded for shutting them down.
a monitoring group called Citizens Against Government Waste The federal bureaucracy identified 543 specific expenditures that could be reduced or eliminated, saving taxpayers “$402.3 billion in the first year and $4 trillion over five years.” In short, there are a lot of easy solutions.
Musk is totally into it, recently telling the audience“If Trump wins, we will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deregulate and reduce the size of government.” He added: “America is rapidly going bankrupt. Interest payments on the national debt exceed the defense budget.”
The Tesla founders are rightWhile the liberal media has largely ignored the massive debt accumulated under the Biden-Harris administration and the downgrade of our Treasury bonds, the damage caused by unprecedented reckless spending cannot be denied. Too much money pumped into the economy has driven up the prices of groceries, cars, and electricity, hurting every American family. The high interest rates set by the Federal Reserve to keep inflation down have made it impossible for millions of people to buy homes.
Vice President Harris is wrong: We don’t need more tax revenue. Government incomeis running at about 17% of GDP, which is in line with historical norms. Our problem is with expenditure, which is running at over 23% of GDP, which is above the historical average of 20%, and is not sustainable.
There is another dangerous aspect of uncontrolled government spending; it creates enormous opportunities for theft, favoritism, and outright waste.
Taxpayers should be on high alert when they learn that “Democrat heavyweight” John Podesta, as the New York Times described him, was given $370 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act to fund green energy projects. Liberal media have happily reported that most of the spending announced by the Biden climate czar has gone to Republican-led districts, but in fact the grants have largely gone to Republican-led districts. Landing in swing states such as Arizona and North CarolinaThat could decide this year’s election. There’s nothing better than starting an EV battery plant in Georgia to gain the favor of local voters.
Our government is arguably bankrupt. Last December, the Pentagon, which bears nearly half of the government’s discretionary spending, failed its sixth consecutive annual audit. The General Accountability Office (GAO) reported that they “could not accurately value at least 46 percent of DeoD’s total assets and at least 72 percent of DeoD’s total budgetary resources.”
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Earlier this year, the Pentagon Inspector General reports The US has been unable to trace more than $1 billion worth of weapons and military equipment sent to Ukraine. Despite White House denials, many believe the high-tech material was stolen.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government employs about 2,250,000 civilians and about the same number of military personnel. Most civilians are protected by civil service rules and regulations; in addition, about 750,000 employees belong to a union, the American Federation of Government Employees. As a result, it is extremely difficult to fire anyone from their job.
When veterans administration When the US became embroiled in a scandal over covering up unfair wait times and mistreating its veterans, the Trump administration had to pass a law (the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act) to take down those responsible, much to the chagrin of pro-union supporters.
Federal Merit Systems Protection Board It is tasked with deciding whether to fire civil servants. Its mission is to “promote an effective federal workforce free from prohibited personnel practices.” Last fiscal year, the agency, which has a budget of about $60 million, reviewed 4,572 cases. That’s the number of government employees fired out of millions.
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Making the federal government more efficient and more effective is a huge task; many consider it impossible, but Elon Musk is eager to do it. David Malpass, a former senior Treasury official in both the Reagan and Reagan administrations, said that Trump White House told me: “Musk has challenged skeptics through small daily successes with SpaceX and Starlink that are changing the entire trajectory of the space age. Reducing waste could do the same if it attracts public admiration and triggers an upheaval in the big-government political establishment.”
What a victory this would be — for Trump, for taxpayers, and for America
