Friday, November 02, 2007
Hey, look over here!: Mock rage over mock taxes
Two of our Democratic overlords in the United States Senate have spun themselves up into a mock rage because the State Department may have raised more money in passport fees than it spent processing the passports:
Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the State Department and Postal Service quietly gouged U.S. citizens over the government's $97 passport fees, even as new anti-terrorism laws require more travelers to carry passports. They are asking the Bush administration for an accounting of where the passport profits go.
Over the past year, as the government issued nearly 14 million new passports, it collected at least $111.4 million more in passport fees than its stated costs, according to calculations by The Associated Press based on figures from State Department and congressional investigators.
Seriously? Democratic Senators are worried that the State Department might have slightly overcharged Americans who have the wherewithal to travel abroad while their colleagues are ginning up hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases? Federal agencies generate billions in "profit" from user fees. Does anybody really think the SEC does not generate massively more revenue from filing fees than it costs to examine the filings, to pick one example.
They just do not want you to look at the big stuff.
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Nov 02, 07:50:00 AM:
One might also look at the tax money the fed gets from the evil Exxon. No R&D expense, no drilling or exploration expense, no acquisition expense,....Just send the bill and collect. And complain about Exxon profits?
SEW
By 
Georg Felis, at
Fri Nov 02, 10:21:00 AM:
111.4 mil goes into 14 million passports…carry the two… Looks like about $7.96 a passport.
In a rational world, the Republicans would reduce the passport charge by $7 or so, bringing the fee down to $90, and save that money for the people.
In the Real World, the Democrats will take this overcharge (of less than 10 percent, which is pretty good for a government agency) and run around in circles screaming about it and using it to beat up on the Bush administration (thereby chewing up that excess money with the added expenses of preparing for testimony and auditing, flying in people to testify, etc…).
The Republicans have focused a great deal on reducing government red tape, cutting taxes, and providing for a strong defense. Why do the Democrats try so hard to do the exact opposite?
By , at
Fri Nov 02, 09:27:00 PM:
"They just do not want you to look at the big stuff."
That would necessitate removing their heads from their as*es.
By , at
Sat Nov 03, 12:57:00 AM:
And isnt CHUCKY SCHUMER one of the big time tax and spend liberal demacrat what he blabbering about anyway?
