Taxpayer Tricks and Treats for Halloween 2022

from Citizens Against Government Waste, Oct 20, 2022 (excerpts)

(Washington, D.C.) - The word “spooky” is insufficient to describe the frightful way President Biden and Congress damaged taxpayers during 2022, so today Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released its 23rd annual compilation of the hair-raising, harrowing, and horrifying Taxpayer Tricks and Treats.  There was so much scary spending and so many repugnant regulations that there are more tricks and fewer treats than usual….

Congress has passed three bills aimed at “COVID-19 relief” and missed badly, with some estimates that less that 10 percent of the $4.6 trillion provided to state and local governments have been spent on pandemic-related issues.  The  state of Hawaii spent $1 million on a sea urchin hatchery and $300,000 for an engineering assessment of the now-condemned Aloha Stadium. …

The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program has attracted more bad reviews than the last-minute Halloween costume.  Total costs JSF are estimated to reach $1.727 trillion over the lifetime of the program, which should make taxpayers shake in their boots.

Burying the JSF deep underground entirely will prove difficult.  Only two states (Hawaii and North Dakota) do not have at least one supplier for the aircraft.  This gives all but two representatives and four senators more than enough incentive to not only keep greasing the wheels, but also to add 33 evil earmarks for the JSF program, costing $10.6 billion, since FY 2001.  This is one of many ways that defense programs rise from the dead even on the rare occasion that they get killed off….

read … Taxpayer Tricks and Treats for Halloween 2022

TH: ‘Trick on Taxpayers’ outlines questionable projects funded by COVID-19 relief