http://www.businesswire.com/portal/...mp;newsId=20080410005850&newsLang=en April 10, 2008 11:46 AM Eastern Daylight Time
CCAGW Says, “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is”
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)
--The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today hailed the introduction of the aptly titled “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” Act, sponsored by Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.). The bill would amend the Tax Code to allow individuals to make contributions above and beyond what they already pay in taxes. Tax forms would include a line indicating how much each person would like to pay. The bill is in response to those who have claimed to be unfairly undertaxed.
“It is time for Americans who like the fact that the government spends so much of their tax dollars to ‘put their money where there mouth is’ and give up extra taxes voluntarily,” said CCAGW President Tom Schatz.
According to a 2007 Harris Interactive survey conducted on behalf of the Tax Foundation, only 2 percent of respondents claimed the amount of federal income tax they pay is too low, compared 58 percent of respondents who said that their taxes were too high.
Citizens already have an opportunity to contribute to a fund within the Department of the Treasury to reduce the federal debt. According to the Treasury, the lowest amount sent to the government was $744,675.06 in 2004, and the most was last year, a whopping $2,624,862.42.
“If the bill passes, it will be easy to send extra tax dollars to Washington, where everyone knows they will be spent wisely. More money could be spent on important priorities like hops research, lobster and sheep institutes, or olive fruit fly research - all among the 11,610 pork projects worth $17.2 billion that were uncovered in Citizens Against Government Waste’s 2008 Pig Book,” concluded Schatz.
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.