CAGW on Tax Day: Cut Taxes by Cutting Waste

Today, Citizens Against Government Waste, in recognition of Tax Day, expressed disappointment at the federal government’s continued waste, abuse, and mismanagement of hundreds of billions of tax dollars, particularly on duplicative, ineffective, and outdated programs. With individual income tax collections at an all-time high of $1.3 trillion, the federal government spends 20.5 percent of America’s gross domestic product, yet the national debt stands at a staggering $17.5 trillion.

Since 1993, CAGW has published numerous examples of duplicative, mismanaged, and wasteful programs within the federal government in its annual Prime Cuts publication. CAGW’s Prime Cuts 2013 contained 557 recommendations that would save taxpayers $580.6 billion in the first year, and $1.8 trillion over five years. To date, implementation of CAGW’s recommendations has helped save taxpayers $1.3 trillion.

“As Americans file their tax returns this Tax Day, the fact that Congress wastes their hard-earned money on thousands of programs that duplicate other federal, state and private efforts, and the President and the big spenders in Congress continue to propose tax hikes, is blatantly irresponsible and appalling,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “Taxpayers currently bear the brunt of higher taxes and a dismal economic environment thanks in large part to a government that mismanages their money through a bloated and incorrigible federal bureaucracy. Tax increases would not only hinder economic recovery, but make products more expensive, place enormous strains on the job market, and diminish growth and prosperity. Instead of resorting to the knee-jerk rhetoric of demanding more in taxes, it’s time to think more creatively about managing the ample revenue that Washington already confiscates from the American people.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.