Govt. Employees Bilk Taxpayers

Among the examples listed are a Federal Aviation Administration employee who used the government card to pay $3,700 for laser eye surgery, a State Department employee who took a first-class Hawaiian vacation on the government and a Pentagon employee who got reimbursed for more than a dozen airline tickets—totaling nearly $10,000—that he never bought.

clipped from www.judicialwatch.org Systematic fraud, waste and mismanagement in the federal travel card program has for years allowed government employees to bilk U.S. taxpayers out of millions of dollars. Issued to federal employees who travel more than five times a year, the charge cards are regularly used by workers from a wide range of agencies to buy personal items, travel first-class or simply steal cash from the government. Details of the ongoing fraud are documented in a congressional report made public this week. Among the examples listed are a Federal Aviation Administration employee who used the government card to pay $3,700 for laser eye surgery, a State Department employee who took a first-class Hawaiian vacation on the government and a Pentagon employee who got reimbursed for more than a dozen airline tickets—totaling nearly $10,000—that he never bought.

Once Considered Unthinkable, U.S. Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look

At a White House conference earlier this year on the government's budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to consider a VAT. A recent flurry of books and papers on the subject is attracting genuine, if furtive, interest in Congress.

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax. Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity. "There is a growing awareness of the need for fundamental tax reform," Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said in an interview. "I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table."