An Open Letter to the United StatesCongress:
Support the Taxpayer Receipt Act!
Dear Member of Congress:
On behalf of the 362,000 members ofthe National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I urge you to support legislative efforts toprovide taxpayers with a receipt showing how their federal income tax is beingspent. The “Taxpayer Receipt Act,” introduced as S. 437 by Senator Nelson (D-FL)and Senator Brown (R-MA) and as H.R. 1527 by Representative Quigley (D-IL)would provide taxpayers with an invaluable educational tool that will allowthem to take their rightful place at the forefront of the conversation over howto deal with the budgetary challenges facing our nation.
In recent years, successiveCongresses and Presidents have expanded federal programs at an alarming pace,to a point where federal expenditures have reached record postwar levels. Anaging population and a fiscally dysfunctional entitlement system will onlyworsen the problem. As our government’s debt has grown, so too has taxpayerskepticism about how their money is being spent. A recent Pew Research pollfound that just 29 percent of Americans believe they can trust Washington to dowhat is right always or most of the time. As Congress begins the debate overhow best to deal with our $1.6 trillion deficit and $14.3 trillion debt,providing taxpayers with an honest and accurate picture of the problems we facewill be imperative to rebuilding that trust.
The “Taxpayer Receipt Act” providesa welcome dose of transparency by offering taxpayers a glimpse into where theirmoney is going, as well as clearly showing how much the federal government isborrowing in their name. This legislation would provide a written or electronicreceipt from the Internal Revenue Service that is broken down into keycategories such as Medicare, Social Security, national defense, net interest onthe federal debt, education and federal employee benefits. Given thatentitlement reform will be a necessary part of any successful long termspending reduction package, NTU would have like to seen Medicaid, one of thechief drivers of our deficit, receive its own category rather than be lumped inunder the umbrella title “other federal health programs.”
That said, your bill is full ofpositives for taxpayers. Chief among them is the inclusion of separate lineitems detailing the amount of debt and additional borrowing for every taxpayerin the United States. This allows the receipt to highlight our drasticallyunbalanced budget that obscures the true cost of our federal government fromthe taxpayer. In so doing, this bill uncovers the very real threat that today’sdeficits pose to future generations.
For thesereasons, NTU applauds the introduction of the “Taxpayer Receipt Act” and we encourageall Members of Congress to work toward passage of H.R. 1527 and S. 437.
Sincerely,
Brandon Greife
Federal Government Affairs Manager