The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) wants to wish everybody a very Happy Thanksgiving. And, in honor of the holiday, TPA presents the 2023 Taxpayer Turkeys:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Sen. Warren has long flown the coop from her days in academia preaching to left-wing faculty and students. Unfortunately, millions of Americans must now bear the brunt of her misguided policies. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and her progressive allies in Congress are pushing to require the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to file and prepare tax returns on behalf of all taxpayers. This move to make the government your accountant would make it significantly more difficult for taxpayers to claim deductions they rightly deserve and increase the likelihood of arbitrary audits. Congress has already allocated $15 million to study this misguided proposal, and more e-file waste is likely on the way. Stuffing the IRS with more responsibility is a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately, Sen. Warren’s terrible policies don’t stop there. The lawmaker is an architect and cheerleader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an unconstitutional agency that has repeatedly skirted the rule of law. The agency bizarrely gets funding from the Federal Reserve instead of Congress, with funds allocated solely at the (agency) director’s request. But where some rightly see a tragic overreach of government power, others see an opportunity to quickly and quietly fulfill an agenda of government regulation over financial services. The agency’s 2013 payday lending rule capped interest rates on small loans, advancing the Democrats’ crusade against “predatory” loans but reducing options for high-risk borrowers with few options to begin with. And, just as expected, Warren has pushed for more costly controls in the name of helping consumers. While regulators undid some of the damage in 2020, Sen. Warren and her bureaucrat allies keep pushing to reintroduce these harmful rules.  TPA hopes that Sen. Warren comes to her senses and stops loading up the federal government with regressive rules and regulations. 

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)

No political party has a monopoly on bird-headed policies. For every Sen. Warren mucking up markets with misguided policies, there’s a Rep. Gaetz trying to “own the libs” by embracing big government. For fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriations, Rep. Gaetz requested $142 million in earmarks. This astounding total puts Gaetz on the top 20 list for earmarkers. Roll Call contributors Aidan Quigley and Herb Jackson report that the lawmaker’s inclusion on the list is, “thanks to a single $141.5 million request to build an aircraft hangar to house new training helicopters stationed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla. Gaetz explains on his website that the new aircraft are exposed to ‘harsh hurricane conditions and high humidity.’” In reality, the harsh impact of out-of-control earmarks on taxpayers dwarf any gale force winds threatening military installations.  Rep. Gaetz is also busy trying to out-Democrat Democrats on costly regulations. In 2022, the lawmaker teamed up with Reps. Pramila Jayapal, (D-Wash.), Ken Buck (R-Co.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), and Burgess Owens (R-Utah) to push for onerous advertising controls on large technology companies. While the proposal is supposedly designed to “save local newspapers and independent journalism,” increasing costs on technology companies such as Facebook and Google would lead to user fees and therefore jeopardize access to small, independent outfits. Gaetz and others are determined to stick it to “Big Tech” even if it means higher costs and less access for millions of Americans. Finally, a new rule gives House members $34,000 annually to pay for rentals (among other things) while conducting official business in Washington, D.C. According to the New York Post, “Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who cited reckless federal spending as a primary reason he led the effort to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in October, spent the most of any lawmaker. The Florida Republican took around $23,000 for his living expenses and meals between January and May…” Looks like Gaetz is just winging it when it comes to being fiscally conservative.

Have a great Thanksgiving!



Best,
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
1101 14th Street, NW
Suite 1120
Washington, D.C. xxxxxx
www.protectingtaxpayers.org