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Citizens Against Government Waste: The Prime Cut Series (#6)

Eliminate Funding for the M1A2SEP Abrams Tank Upgrade Program
1-Year Savings: $699.2 million
5-Year Savings: $3.5 billion

Over the objections of senior DOD officials, members of Congress have for many years provided funding for the M1 upgrade program. In FY 2023, legislators added two earmarks costing $699.2 million for the Abrams, including $602 million to upgrade 46 tanks.

Although the tank plant is in Lima, Ohio, its suppliers are spread across the country, which helps to explain the widespread support. Past versions of the DOD bills, including in FYs 2016 and 2017, hinted at a parochial incentive for the program’s continuance: industrial base support. There’s nothing like a jobs program disguised as a national security priority.

The continued funding for the program makes it worth revisiting why the Pentagon has long objected to finite resources being wasted on an unwanted project. In testimony before the HASC on February 17, 2012, then-Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno told Congress that the U.S. possesses more than enough tanks to meet the country’s needs, stating “our tank fleet is in good shape.

“On September 6, 2023, the DOD announced that it intends to move on from the M1A2SEP. Adapting in part from lessons learned in the fighting in Ukraine, the Pentagon intends to redistribute funding once intended for the M1A2SEP program to develop the M1E3. This new version of the Abrams will integrate technologies designed to increase survivability and maneuverability on the battlefield and will likely be fielded in the 2040s and onward.

Written by TaxConnections Admin | Posted in Citizens Of Government Waste • THE PIG BOOK

As the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gears up to start accepting and processing 2023 tax returns, the agency announced it will be launching its own tax preparation system. The IRS having its own tax preparation system would greatly expand the agency’s power and make the IRS tax preparer, biller, and enforcer, interfere with a competitive and efficient marketplace, and undermine its own Free File program.

The IRS announced that the new pilot program will be fully available by mid-March in 13 states for taxpayers meeting certain eligibility criteria. This pilot program was launched after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included $15 million for the IRS to explore the viability for an in-agency tax preparation system, which is a far cry from their ignoring the law and moving forward with their own system. The IRA was not the first time such a program has gotten support from lawmakers. Some members of Congress, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have long pushed for the IRS to launch its own tax preparation system.

There are several reasons that this expansion of the IRS’ power is a terrible idea for taxpayers and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Most notably, the IRS has already tried and failed to create and operate its own tax preparation system when it launched Cyberfile. The Cyberfile program cost taxpayers $17 million and failed to provide adequate customer service or protect taxpayer information. In addition, the IRS already runs Free File, a free tax filing system for taxpayers whose income is below a certain threshold. The Free File program was created in 2002, to take effect for the 2003 tax season, in response to the failure of Cyberfile. The IRS has contracts with several tax preparation companies to provide taxpayers with free tax preparation services. Approximately 70 percent of all taxpayers are eligible for this program but only 2 percent of taxpayers utilized the system during the 2022 tax filing season.