How would you feel if half the tax dollars you paid the federal government each year were thrown away? That's essentially what happens when approximately $750 billion (or more) is spent every year on waste, fraud and abuse. The number includes taxes that aren't collected--and should be--to September spending sprees by federal agencies that are desperate to spend their full budgets before the end of their fiscal year.
Just imagine what the country could do with just half of that money every year:
Slide Show: 25 NEW Outrageous Examples of Government Waste
- State of the art infrastructure and facilities
- Excellent education and pre-K
- Top health care
- Innovative technology
- All leading to economic growth
Related: 600 Ways to Cut Government Spending and Save $640 Billion
Overspending on poorly negotiated federal contracts is also part of the problem, since the federal workforce largely depends on private contractors. One of the most egregious examples is the Defense Department, which has never been audited. The military is good at fighting wars, but it sucks at managing money.
The DOD's convolulted bookkeeping system is their excuse. (Haven't they heard of Quick Books?) As a result, the Pentagon hasn't accounted for more than $8.5 trillion taxpayer dollars doled out by Congress since 1996. Yet they still want more money added to their nearly $600 billion budget.
Anyway, you get the picture. Waste not, want not.
The following chart is from 2013. The government hasn't done much--if anything--to reduce these numbers.
Click here to see slide show: 25 New Outrageous Examples of Government Waste
| Agency | Project | Amount | Time Spent | ||
| Department of Agriculture | Smuttynose brewery - 3 brew tanks | 750,970 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Agriculture | Improper payments to farm producers | 16,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Agriculture | Improper loans | 208,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Agriculture | Alabama Watermelon Queen Tour | 25,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Defense | Soccer Field in Guantanamo | 750,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Education | Student Aid Scams | 1,400,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Energy | Initiative for Proliferation Prevention (A Cold War Program) | 15,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department Of Justice | Conferences | 58,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Labor | Dropouts from Underperforming Job Programs | 118,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Labor | Overpayments | 148,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Labor | Consumer Fraud | 14,000,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Department of Transportation | Contract Mismanagement | 157,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Economic Dev. Agency | Fake Cyber Threat Purge | 3,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| FAA | Oklahoma Empty Airport | 450,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Federal Grant | Book Vending Machine | 35,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services | Star Wars Event | 365 | 1 Year | ||
| General Accounting Office | Overlapping Programs | 95,000,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| General Accounting Office | Bank Fees for Empty Accounts | 890,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Health and Human Services | Medicare Fraud and Abuse | 115,300,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Health and Human Services | Medicare Drug Cost Alignment | 3,140,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| House of Representatives | Snacks | 30,000 | 3 Months | ||
| Housing and Urban Dev. | Pet Toothpaste & Shampoo | 505,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Inspector General Handbook | Multiple, Across Agencies | 67,000,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Employee Fraud | 250,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Employee Fraud | 30,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Blackberry/AirCard | 4,800,000 | 5 Years | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Refund Errors | 829,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Meetings | 50,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Video Production | 60,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Agency Retreat | 4,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Bonuses | 70,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Improper Software Contract | 500,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Annual Tax Gap (~ $500 billion) $3 collected for every $1 in additional enforcement | 300,000,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Internal Revenue Service | Improper Use of Credit Cards | 2,500 | 1 Year | ||
| National Science Foundation | Robo Squirrel | 325,000 | 1 Year | ||
| National Endowment for the Arts | Circus Classes | 20,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Pentagon | Rebuilding Iraq | 60,000,000,000 | 10 Years | ||
| Pentagon | Abrams Tanks | 436,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Pentagon | 64,000sqft Building that the Military Knew would not be occupied | 34,000,000 | Unknown | ||
| Pentagon | Roll-up beef jerky development | 639,884 | 1 Year | ||
| Pentagon/Afghanistan | Afghanistan tax bill | 1,000,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Pentagon/Afghanistan | USAID Power Project | 53,000,000 | Unknown | ||
| Pentagon/Afghanistan | Training Police and Security - Considered Ineffective | 50,000,000 | Ongoing | ||
| Pentagon/Afghanistan | Construction used as chicken coop | 26,000,000 | Unknown | ||
| Pentagon/Afghanistan | Contract money ending up in Taliban hands | 360,000,000 | Ongoing | ||
| Pentagon/Afghanistan | USAID | 100,000,000,000 | Ongoing | ||
| Pentagon/Afghanistan | Equipment Left Behind | 7,000,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| State Department | Facebook "Likes" | 630,000 | 2 Years | ||
| Tom Coburn Waste Book | Minus the 12 Items Above | 18,855,248,781 | 1 Year | ||
| U.S. Forest Service | Smokey the Bear Balloons | 49,447 | 1 Year | ||
| U.S. Park Police | Missing hundreds of Military-style weapons | ? | ? | ||
| USAID | Moroccan Pottery Classes | 27,000,000 | 1 Year | ||
| Vice President Biden | One Night in Paris | 585,000 | 1 Night | ||
| TOTAL: 788,595,076,947 | |||||
