This is an opinion column
Want to pay for national infrastructure? Stop making trillions in improper payments.
The federal government has made $1.9 trillion dollars in improper payments since 2003 according to information by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). That’s cold hard cash that shouldn’t have been paid out in the first place as well as federal overpayments. Investing in critical infrastructure should be a national priority, and we have the means to do so without tax increases.
No politician enjoys regularly funding and repairing roads, bridges, water pipes, electrical lines, and other traditional infrastructure. It’s expensive, takes time, and nobody enjoys the hassle. As a result, our political class procrastinates until the pipes break, bridges collapse, and repair costs accumulate. As Congress negotiates the latest infrastructure package, paying for it is and will always be the trillion dollar question.
Stop throwing away trillions of taxpayer dollars first. Then recover the billions already legally owed to the federal government.
The GAO estimates that the annual difference between federal taxes owed and collected to be several hundred billion dollars a year. Our national government is hemorrhaging trillions of dollars between uncollected taxes and improper spending.
Yes, we should address fiscally unstable government programs. I’m looking at you, United States Postal Service and Social Security. We’re also probably due for a real overhaul and simplification of the tax code. Finding bipartisan majorities in Congress is an incredibly frustrating task at the moment on anything, so major reforms are off the table.
But focusing on erroneous payments? Nobody should oppose addressing the issue. While I don’t want people to pay a penny more in taxes than they owe, individuals and companies shouldn’t be able to ignore their lawful tax bills either. How is that controversial?
If there’s something for our leaders to jointly address, no better projects exist than reducing improper payments and the tax gap. We know government officials like spending our money, the least we should do is expect them not to waste it.
Smith is CEO of the Triptych Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The Triptych Foundation promotes a virtuous society through investments in socially impactful media and business. He was recently executive director of the Republican Policy Committee in the United States House of Representatives. You can reach him at csmith@al.com.
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June 30, 2021 at 11:26PM
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Want to pay for national infrastructure? Stop making trillions in improper payments. - AL.com
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