April 17, 2006
Happy Tax Day! If that isn’t a misnomer!
That the federal and many state governments waste our hard-earned money is almost a proverb. Citizens Against Government Waste is my favorite watchdog group. They follow where a lot of our money goes. In addition to their excellent pig book that lists some of the waste, fraud and abuse at the federal level, CAGW also prints piglet books for individual states. You should visit their web site at cagw.org and see if your state is on the list.
Their latest is Tennessee. CAGW estimates $240 million tax dollars is being wasted in Tennessee. They list a party for the national conference of state legislatures that cost Tennessee taxpayers $700 thousand. Then there was $784,205 misspent in health care benefits for dead people. Or how about $436,590 in subsidies for golf courses?
State government, like the federal government, never have enough of our money. Even when there are large surpluses, government finds something else to spend it on instead of lowering taxes or giving us refunds. It’s up to you and me to pay attention and to act.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
