Sen. Mitt Romney is right about one thing: the fiscal cliff is real (Herald, Dec. 28). But taxing “the rich” has become Washington’s favorite distraction from the true cause of our deficit – unchecked federal spending riddled with waste, fraud and abuse.
Even taxing high earners at 100% would not cover what the federal government spends. The problem is not undertaxation; it’s that Congress has lost control of taxpayer dollars.
The largest drivers of the deficit are well documented by watchdogs, including the Government Accountability Office and agency inspectors general:
- Federal health programs lose an estimated $200 to $300 billion annually to fraud, improper payments, overbilling, administrative waste, services never delivered and systemic overpayments acknowledged by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
- Federal contracting wastes an estimated $100 to $200 billion each year through cost-plus contracts, no-bid awards, endless consulting and failed projects.
- Of the roughly $900 billion defense budget – which still cannot pass a clean audit – $100 to $200 billion annually goes to non-readiness spending: excess infrastructure, failed IT systems, procurement overruns and bureaucracy, not troop readiness or deterrence.
- Nongovernmental organizations handle hundreds of billions in federal funds each year. Even conservative audits show $30 to $50 billion lost annually, with total exposure likely far higher due to weak oversight and pass-through funding.
- SNAP abuse adds $15 to $25 billion annually, while emergency spending loses $20 to $40 billion more.
America does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending and accountability problem.
If lawmakers want to avoid the fiscal cliff, the solution is not higher taxes – it’s stopping the waste of what taxpayers already provide.
Patrick Hegarty
Durango
