The following is from a May 4 press release from NC Rep Virginia Foxx.
Foxx introduces spending accountability bill
Bill requires reporting of all spending on non-English gov’t services
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Virginia Foxx (NC-05) introduced legislation today to bring more openness and accountability to federal government spending. Her legislation, the Multilingual Services Accounting Act, requires all federal government bureaucracies to annually report how much taxpayer money is spent to provide government services in languages other than English.
“Our government spends large, but undefined amounts of taxpayer money to provide government services in amultitude of languages—with little or no accountability for how this money is spent and with no information on the value of this spending,” Rep. Foxx said. “American taxpayers deserve better. They deserve a complete accounting of how their government spends their tax dollars.”
Federal government agencies currently do not have to report how much money they spend to provide government services and publications in languages other than English. Foxx’s legislation fixes this problem by requiring that federal bureaucracies report multilingual expenditures in their annual reports to the Office of Management and Budget.
Without this basic accounting information, the federal government has no way of knowing how much it spends to provide multilingual services.
“Responsible government must be transparent and accountable,” Foxx said. “By shining the light on how much money is spent on non-English services we can ensure tax dollars are not squandered on wasteful projects.”
The advocacy group ProEnglish also endorsed Foxx’s bill as a responsible government accounting practice.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
From Gov Huckabee's Blog "Another Day - Another Dollar"
Gov Huckabee writes, "By just reading the title of this blog, you might think I'm talking about what you do to earn a living – but sadly, I’m talking about another rise in the price of gasoline. It seems like it goes up at least that much every time we fill up, doesn't it?"
You can read the rest of Gov Huckabee's blog here:
Huck PAC - Blogs - Another Day - Another Dollar
You can read the rest of Gov Huckabee's blog here:
Huck PAC - Blogs - Another Day - Another Dollar
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Huck PAC - Blogs - Standard & Poor's: A Warning
In a recent blog post, Gov. Mike Huckabee writes: "The American people have been raising their voices for many months telling Washington politicians to get our fiscal house in order. To no one's surprise, Washington has simply gone on doing what it seems to do best - spending money we don't have."
You can read the entire blog post here:
Huck PAC - Blogs - Standard & Poor's: A Warning
You can read the entire blog post here:
Huck PAC - Blogs - Standard & Poor's: A Warning
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Huck PAC - Blogs - Poll: Huckabee most liked...
From CNN: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee appears to have the clear advantage out of the gate when it comes to the 2012 battle for the GOP presidential nomination, enjoying a significantly higher net-favorability rating and name identification among national Republicans than any other potential candidate. According to the new survey by Gallup, Huckabee has a net-favorability rating (the difference between those who hold a favorable view and those who hold an unfavorable view) of 30 percent.
You can read the rest of the article by clicking on the link below:
Huck PAC - Blogs - Poll: Huckabee most liked...
You can read the rest of the article by clicking on the link below:
Huck PAC - Blogs - Poll: Huckabee most liked...
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Foxx: Overhaul The US Tax System
The following is from an e-newsletter from Congresswoman Virginia Foxx.
Why we need to overhaulthe U.S. tax systemStep one: burn the current tax code
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx
About half of American workers didn’t pay any federal income taxes last year.
Huge agribusinesses got billions in tax subsidies to turn food into fuel—pushing up the price of food for American families. In fact, last year’s tax subsidies for turning corn into ethanol reached $6 billion. The Congressional Budget Office even estimates that government subsidies for ethanol amount to about $1.78 per gallon.
What do these two rather divergent facts have to do with each other? Answer: they each point to the need for fundamental federal tax reform.
Let’s face it. Our tax system is a complete disaster. It is so byzantine that only the sharpest tax lawyer or Washington lobbyist can tell you what lies beneath the surface.
In true Washington fashion, it gets more complex, more unfair and more indecipherable with each passing year. Congress can’t resist tinkering at the margins, throwing in new provisions or special carve outs and generally adding to the economic dead weight that is our tax code.
The year-end debate over tax rates just serves to illustrate the point. There are currently six separate tax brackets that will all increase in 2011 if Congress doesn’t do something to stop it. Some people want to increase taxes on some brackets, others would like to increase taxes on all brackets and still others would like to increase taxes on no brackets. (You can put me in the not increasing taxes on anyone column.)
This tax debate is rowdy and the disagreements are sharp. Left unsaid is the fact that no matter what Congress does about these upcoming tax increases, we’ll still have an opaque system that is constantly gamed by special interests.
You may wonder what special interests have a stake in the current tax code. The honest answer is almost all of them. This is why real tax reform is such a herculean task. Thanks to hundreds of exemptions, deductions and carve outs inserted into the tax code over the past several decades, almost every interest group with a mailing address in Washington, DC will be crowing for another carve out if Congress sets about retooling taxes.
The tax code is so bad that Americans waste at least 6.6 billion hours each year working to comply with the IRS requirements. Add to that the more than $200 billion spent to stay in compliance and keep the auditors at bay and you have a massive drag on the economy and economic growth.
So Congress must be bold. Tax reform can’t be a piecemeal sort of operation. Step one must be burning the current tax code. Step two must involve creating a tax system that is fair and efficient and that doesn’t pick favorites. There are plenty of tax reform options out there—many of them far, far better than what we have now.
The core problem is that our tax system is stuffed with needlessly complex provisions. These carve outs mean tax rates are artificially high. The carve outs also end up arbitrarily punishing some taxpayers and rewarding others. As a matter of fairness, any tax reform proposal should strip away the layers of tax carve outs and lower the tax rates everyone pays. After all, if you get rid of the special deductions, you could lower rates without seeing tax collections fall.
This kind of reform could look like a Fair Tax or a flat tax or some sort of hybrid proposal. Ultimately the exact type of tax reform should be up for negotiation. The most important thing is to kill off the current tax code and replace it with something straightforward and fair for everyone.
The result of fundamental tax reform would be immediate and dramatic. America would experience a profound—and real—economic stimulus. The uncertainty and ambiguity currently plaguing hundreds of thousands of businesses would virtually evaporate. The wasted time and money of tax compliance would be slashed to a pittance. Most importantly, tax rates would fall—empowering entrepreneurs to focus on big ideas rather than long tax forms and families to focus on their budgets and not their tax returns.
If we get tax reform right we will spur investment in the people and businesses of tomorrow on a level not possible under the current tax system. In today’s tough economic times, we can’t afford NOT to scrap our tax code and start over.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx represents the Fifth Congressional District of North Carolina. She currently serves on the House Rules Committee. You may contact her office toll free at 1-866-677-8968.
Why we need to overhaulthe U.S. tax systemStep one: burn the current tax code
Congresswoman Virginia Foxx
About half of American workers didn’t pay any federal income taxes last year.
Huge agribusinesses got billions in tax subsidies to turn food into fuel—pushing up the price of food for American families. In fact, last year’s tax subsidies for turning corn into ethanol reached $6 billion. The Congressional Budget Office even estimates that government subsidies for ethanol amount to about $1.78 per gallon.
What do these two rather divergent facts have to do with each other? Answer: they each point to the need for fundamental federal tax reform.
Let’s face it. Our tax system is a complete disaster. It is so byzantine that only the sharpest tax lawyer or Washington lobbyist can tell you what lies beneath the surface.
In true Washington fashion, it gets more complex, more unfair and more indecipherable with each passing year. Congress can’t resist tinkering at the margins, throwing in new provisions or special carve outs and generally adding to the economic dead weight that is our tax code.
The year-end debate over tax rates just serves to illustrate the point. There are currently six separate tax brackets that will all increase in 2011 if Congress doesn’t do something to stop it. Some people want to increase taxes on some brackets, others would like to increase taxes on all brackets and still others would like to increase taxes on no brackets. (You can put me in the not increasing taxes on anyone column.)
This tax debate is rowdy and the disagreements are sharp. Left unsaid is the fact that no matter what Congress does about these upcoming tax increases, we’ll still have an opaque system that is constantly gamed by special interests.
You may wonder what special interests have a stake in the current tax code. The honest answer is almost all of them. This is why real tax reform is such a herculean task. Thanks to hundreds of exemptions, deductions and carve outs inserted into the tax code over the past several decades, almost every interest group with a mailing address in Washington, DC will be crowing for another carve out if Congress sets about retooling taxes.
The tax code is so bad that Americans waste at least 6.6 billion hours each year working to comply with the IRS requirements. Add to that the more than $200 billion spent to stay in compliance and keep the auditors at bay and you have a massive drag on the economy and economic growth.
So Congress must be bold. Tax reform can’t be a piecemeal sort of operation. Step one must be burning the current tax code. Step two must involve creating a tax system that is fair and efficient and that doesn’t pick favorites. There are plenty of tax reform options out there—many of them far, far better than what we have now.
The core problem is that our tax system is stuffed with needlessly complex provisions. These carve outs mean tax rates are artificially high. The carve outs also end up arbitrarily punishing some taxpayers and rewarding others. As a matter of fairness, any tax reform proposal should strip away the layers of tax carve outs and lower the tax rates everyone pays. After all, if you get rid of the special deductions, you could lower rates without seeing tax collections fall.
This kind of reform could look like a Fair Tax or a flat tax or some sort of hybrid proposal. Ultimately the exact type of tax reform should be up for negotiation. The most important thing is to kill off the current tax code and replace it with something straightforward and fair for everyone.
The result of fundamental tax reform would be immediate and dramatic. America would experience a profound—and real—economic stimulus. The uncertainty and ambiguity currently plaguing hundreds of thousands of businesses would virtually evaporate. The wasted time and money of tax compliance would be slashed to a pittance. Most importantly, tax rates would fall—empowering entrepreneurs to focus on big ideas rather than long tax forms and families to focus on their budgets and not their tax returns.
If we get tax reform right we will spur investment in the people and businesses of tomorrow on a level not possible under the current tax system. In today’s tough economic times, we can’t afford NOT to scrap our tax code and start over.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx represents the Fifth Congressional District of North Carolina. She currently serves on the House Rules Committee. You may contact her office toll free at 1-866-677-8968.
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