風蕭蕭_Frank
以文會友
聯邦政府每年至少浪費納稅人$2470億資金
CNBC新聞 ｜2023-04-18
根據美國政府問責局(government Accountability Office)的數據，2022年，不當支付（指政府錯誤支付的款項）使美國損失了2470億美元。據美國政府問責局估計，在過去20年裏，美國政府因簡單的支付錯誤損失了近2.4萬億美元。
The federal government wastes at least $247 billion
傳統基金會(Heritage Foundation)的預算和支出專家理查德·斯特恩(Richard Stern)說，“在過去幾十年裏，政府損失了數萬億美元，就像你把它掉在人行道上一樣。這些錢是從辛勤工作的美國人那裏偷來的，最終白白浪費掉了。”
但這還不是全部。來自非營利組織和肯塔基州共和黨參議員蘭德·保羅(Rand Paul)等議員的監督報告稱，每年還有數十億美元被浪費——從花費17億美元維護空置的政府大樓，到投資2800萬美元購買用於阿富汗沙漠的森林迷彩服。
重複的程序是另一個令人擔憂的原因。
反對政府浪費公民組織主席湯姆·沙茨說：“政府問責局每年都會發布一份關於重複和交叉項目的報告，每年他們都會發現越來越多的這樣的項目。”
批評人士說，這些問題主要源於政府試圖解決問題的方式。
沙茨說：“在私營部門，如果有人在做某事，他們會看到自己想要做什麽或出售什麽，然後決定如何做，以及成本是多少。在聯邦政府，一切都是‘去花更多的錢’，如果這不起作用，那就是‘再花更多的錢’。”
政府問責局的職責是審計和報告聯邦政府的任何浪費開支。但專家認為，它並沒有以它可以或應該的方式影響政策變化。
“我認為他們有足夠的權力，但我認為他們沒有足夠的人力或資源，”布魯金斯學會(Brookings Institution)高級研究員伊萊恩·卡馬克(Elaine Karmarck)說。
然而，監督組織表示，政府的浪費性支出可能會給經濟健康帶來痛苦的後果。
斯特恩說：“隨著政府支出的增加，赤字也在增加。發生的事情是，它把房間裏的氧氣都吸走了。它正在摧毀投資。這是在拿我們的未來押注。它正在減緩我們的增長。今天，你看到的通貨膨脹在很大程度上就是這種情況的結果。”
The federal government wastes at least $247 billion in taxpayer money each year. Here's how
- The U.S. government wastes billions of taxpayer dollars every year.
- The U.S. has lost almost $2.4 trillion in simple payment errors over the last two decades.
- Oversight reports claim that billions more dare being wasted every year on needless and duplicative programs
- Wasteful spending by the government can have painful consequences to the health of the economy, according to watchdog groups.
The U.S. government wastes billions of taxpayer dollars every year.
Improper payments, which refer to payments that are made incorrectly by the government, cost the U.S. $247 billion in 2022, according to the Government Accountability Office. The U.S. government has lost almost $2.4 trillion in simple payment errors over the last two decades, by GAO estimates.
“The government has just lost, as if you dropped it on the sidewalk, trillions and trillions of dollars over the last few decades,” said Richard Stern, a budget and spending expert from the Heritage Foundation. “That is money that was stolen from hardworking Americans to just simply get wasted.”
But that’s not all. Oversight reports from nonprofits and lawmakers like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., claim billions more are being wasted every year — from spending $1.7 billion maintaining empty government buildings to accidentally investing $28 million on forest camouflage uniforms to be used in the deserts of Afghanistan.
Duplicated programs are another cause for concern.
“The Government Accountability Office every year issues a report on duplicative and overlapping programs and every year they find more and more of these programs,” according to Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.
The problems mainly stem from the way our government tries to solve an issue, according to critics.
“In the private sector, if somebody is doing something, they see what they’re trying to do or sell and then determine how to do it and how much it will cost,” Schatz said. “In the federal government, everything is ‘Go spend more money’ and if that doesn’t work, it’s ‘Go spend more money.’”
It’s the job of the GAO to audit and report any wasteful spending by the federal government. But experts argue that it doesn’t influence policy changes in the way that it could or should.
“I think they have enough power, but I don’t think they have enough manpower or resources,” said Elaine Karmarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Nevertheless, wasteful spending by the government can have painful consequences to the health of the economy, according to watchdog groups.
“As the government spends it runs up a deficit,” Stern said. “What happens is, it’s sucking all the oxygen out of the room. It’s destroying investment. It’s mortgaging our futures. It’s slowing our growth. Today, the inflation you’re seeing is a large result of that.”
Watch the video to find out more about why taxes feel so high in the U.S. and why so much taxpayer money gets wasted.
