Red Ink (17 page)

  
1
The
instructions
: White House, “Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a11_current_year_a11_toc

  
2
The Department of Homeland Security’s: “U.S. Department of Homeland Security Annual Performance Report: Fiscal Years 2011—2013.”
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/mgmt/dhs-congressional-budget-justification-fy2013.pdf

  
3
The typical respondent: CNN Opinion Research Poll, March 11–13, 2011.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/03/31/rel4m.pdf

  
4
a 2008 Cornell University: Suzanne Mettler, “Reconstituting the Submerged State: The Challenges of Social Policy Reform in the Obama Era.”
Perspective on Politics
8, no. 3 (September 2010): 809.
http://government.arts.cornell.edu/assets/faculty/
docs/mettler/submergedstat_mettler.pdf

  
5
When Gallup asked: Jeffrey M. Jones, “Americans Say Federal Gov’t Wastes over Half of Every Dollar,” September 19, 2011.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/149543/americans-say-federal-gov-wastes-half-every-dollar.aspx

  
6
unused wireless devices: Office of Management and Budget, “Cuts, Consolidations and Savings,” 144.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/
omb/budget/fy2013/assets/ccs.pdf

  
7
the
Washington Post
identified: David S. Fallis, Scott Higham, and Kimberly Kindy, “Congressional Earmarks Sometimes Used to Fund Projects Near Lawmakers’ Properties,”
Washington Post,
February 6, 2012.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2012/01/
12/gIQA97HGvQ_story.html?hpid=z1

  
8
Social Security Administration: Office of Management and Budget, “Cuts, Consolidations and Savings,” 150.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/
budget/fy2013/assets/ccs.pdf

  
9
“Reducing the deficit”: Interview, Stan Collender.

10
“My goal was”: Interview, Rob Portman.

11
“It is the aging”: House Budget Committee, The Congressional Budget Office’s Budget and Economic Outlook Hearing, February 1, 2012.

12
Between 1999 and 2009: : Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, H-CUPnet.
http://hcupnet.ahrq.gov/

13
In 2009, Medicare spent: Government Accountability Office,
Medicare: Lack of Price Transparency May Hamper Hospitals’ Ability to Be Prudent Purchasers of Implantable Medical Devices
(Washington, D.C.: January 2012).

14
Under the new system: Congressional Budget Office, “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options,” March 2011, 55.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12085/03-10-ReducingTheDeficit.pdf
. See also Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, “Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program,” June 2011, 167.
http://www.medpac.gov/documents/Jun11DataBookEntireReport.pdf

15
The White House budget office: Office of Management and Budget,
Fiscal Year 2013 Budget,
227.

16
“When Republicans seized”: Michael Grunwald, “Why Our Farm Policy Is Failing,”
Time,
November 7, 2007.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680139,00.html

17
“an entitlement tied”: Dan Morgan, “The Farm Bill and Beyond” (Washington, D.C.: The German Marshall Fund, 2010), 13.
http://209.200.80.89/publications/article.cfm?id=781&parent_type=P

18
Half of the direct: Office of Management and Budget,
Fiscal Year 2013 Budget,
28.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget
/fy2013/assets/cutting.pdf

19
the first congressional district: Environmental Working Group, 2011 Farm Subsidy Database.
http://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcodeotal_dp&page=district®ionnameheUnitedStates

20
half of the money: Ibid.

21
“no longer defensible”: Office of Management and Budget, “Cuts, Consolidations and Savings,” 29.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget
/fy2013/assets/ccs.pdf

22
“Everybody needs to share”:
http://www.kansas.com/2011/06/14/1891504/payments-to-farmers-likely-to.html

23
tab to the taxpayer: Office of Management and Budget,
Fiscal Year 2013 Budget
(Washington, D.C.,: Government Printing Office, 2012), 28.

24
“the food-stamp president”: Damian Paletta, “Campaign Renews Scrutiny of Growing Food-Stamp Program,”
wsj.com
, January 17, 2012.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/01/17/campaign-renews-scrutiny-of-growing-food-stamp-program/

25
“wants us to become”: Interview, Fox News, January 16, 2012.
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/2012/01/17/romney-sticks-story-super-pac-ads-post-sc-debate-interview

26
as of December 2011: USDA, “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.”
http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/34SNAPmonthly.htm

27
“We got a picture”: Jerry Hagstrom, “From Farm to Table,”
Government Executive,
September 1, 1998.
http://www.govexec.com/features/0998/0998s4s2.htm

28
“the food stamp program”: “The Safety Net: A History of Food Stamps Use and Policy,”
nytimes.com
, February 11, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/11/us/FOODSTAMPS.html

29
“relentless”: Interview, Paul Ryan.

30
more than 80 percent: CNN/ORC Poll, September 23–25, 2011.
http://www.pollingreport.com/social.htm
; “Public Wants Change in Entitlements, Not Change in Benefits,” Pew Research Center, July 7, 2011.
http://www.people-press.org/2011/07/07/section-5-views-of-social-security/

31
In contrast to: Social Security Administration, “Vote Tallies: 1935 Social Security Act.”
http://www.ssa.gov/history/tally.html

32
“You cannot keep”: Michael Lind, “Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?,”
nytimes.com
, September 9, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/09/09/is-social-security-a-ponzi-scheme

33
The number of taxpaying:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2011/lr4b2.html

34
if nothing is done:
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/TRSUM/index.html

35
Nearly 55 million people:
http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/basicfact.htm

36
Most who draw benefits:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/policy/docs/
quickfacts/stat_snapshot/index.html?qs

37
But nearly half:
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/income_pop55/

38
“I feel like”: Interview, Martha Soderberg.

39
“[A]fter 10 years”: Letter from Leon Panetta to John McCain, November 14, 2011.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/72831635/Panetta-McCain-Graham-Ltr

40
Skeptics were quick to note: Lawrence Korb, “The Real Effects of Sequestration on Defense Spending,”
Huffington Post,
November 17, 2011.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-korb/sequestration-defense-spending_b_1100484.html

41
“We do not have”: Bernard Brodie,
Strategy in the Missle Age
(Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand Corp., 1959), 359–61. Quoted in Todd Harrison, “$trategy in a Year of Fiscal Uncertainty,” Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, February 2012.

42
Aircraft carriers are expensive: Congressional Budget Office, “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options,” March 2010, 90.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12085/03-10-ReducingTheDeficit.pdf

43
The navy calls them: Julian Barnes and Nathan Hodge,
“The New Arms Race: China Takes Aim at U.S. Naval Might,”
Wall Street Journal,
January 4, 2012.

44
The new carriers: U.S. Navy Fact File: Aircraft Carriers.
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=200&ct=4

45
“The need to project”: Remarks as delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, May 3, 2010.
http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1460

46
Obama reportedly rejected:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/us/in-new-strategy-panetta-plans-even-smaller-army.html?_r=1

47
“The president feels”: Interview, Leon Panetta.

48
In May 2010: Remarks as delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, May 8, 2010.
http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1467

49
as on the war in Iraq:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf

50
Health care consumes: Lawrence Korb et al.,
Restoring Tricare: Ensuring the Long Term Viability of the Military Health Care System
(Washington, D.C.: Center for American Progress, March 2010).
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/02/pdf/tricare.pdf

51
“meets with a furious”: Remarks by Gates.
http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1467

52
“They’ve always been very strong”: Interview, Leon Panetta.

53
Few outsiders appreciate: Congressional Budget Office, “Reducing the Deficit: Spending and Revenue Options,” 80.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12085/03-10-ReducingTheDeficit.pdf

54
“Try to change”: Belinda Luscombe, “Ten Questions for Alan Simpson,”
Time,
August 8, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2084567,00.html

55
Obama’s latest budget: Karen Parish, “ ‘Budget Request Preserves Troop Health Benefits,’ Official Says,” Department of Defense, February 14, 2012.
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=67190

56
The health plan is so generous:
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/
attachments/GrahamLetter021712.pdf

57
“so cheap”: Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker, “Gates Seeing to Contain Military Costs,”
New York Times
, November 28, 2010.

58
“costing us $11 billion”: Quoted in Amanda Palleschi, “Budget Request Includes TRICARE Cut, Military Retirement Details,”
Government Executive,
February 13, 2012.
http://www.govexec.com/defense/2012/02/budget-request-includes-tricare-cut-military-retirement-details/41193/print/

59
But 65 percent: Association for State Dam Safety Officials, “Dam Owners.”
http://damsafety.org/community/owners/?p=e9a03866-a7b1–469a-83d8–27122057751a

60
“Many state dam safety programs”: American Society of Civil Engineers, “America’s Infrastructure Report Card.”
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/fact-sheet/dams

61
South Dakota: Association of State Dam Safety Officials, “2010 Statistics on State Dam Safety Regulation,” Novem-ber 2011.
http://www.damsafety.org/media/Documents/STATE_INFO/State%20Performance%20Data/2010_StateStats.pdf

62
A 1972 dam collapse: Association of State Dam Safety Officials, “Dam Failures, Dam Incidents.”
http://www.damsafety.org/media/Documents/STATE_INFO/State%20Performance%20Data/2010_StateStats.pdf

63
The Army Corps of Engineers: Army Corps of Engineers, “Dams by Hazard Potential.”
http://geo.usace.army.mil/pgis/f?p=397:5:3537652343623686::NO

64
And thus was born: Association of State Dam Safety Officials, “National Dam Safety Program Act of 2006.”
http://www.damsafety.org/media/Documents/Legislative%20Handouts/2007-08/National%20Dam%20Safety%20Program%20Act%2006.pdf

65
A 2011 Pew: Pew Research Center poll, June 15–19, 2011.
http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-questionnaires/June11%20space%20topline%20for%20release.pdf

66
Gallup poll: Gallup Inc., “Majority of Americans Say Space Program Costs Justified,” July 17, 2009.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/121736/majority-americans-say-space-program-costs-justified.asp

67
“Space exploration”: Barack Obama, “On Space Exploration in the 21st Century,” April 15, 2010.
http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/trans/obama_ksc_trans.html

68
“Every dollar”: Charles Bolden, NASA budget briefing, February 13, 2012. Video is at
http://www.c-span.org/Events/NASA-Fiscal-Year-2013-Budget-Briefing/10737428275/

69
“The Mars program”: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, “Ed Weiler Says He Quit NASA Over Cuts to Mars Program,”
Science Insider,
February 9, 2012.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/02/ed-weiler-says-he-quit-nasa-over.html

70
“We could not”: Charles Bolden, NASA budget briefing,
February 13, 2012. Video is at
http://www.c-span.org/Events/NASA-Fiscal-Year-2013-Budget-Briefing/10737428275/

  
1
Joseph decreed: Genesis 47:26.

  
2
Large parts of the Rosetta Stone: Rosetta Stone translation by R. S. Simpson, Griffith Institute, Oxford University.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/
r/the_rosetta_stone_translation.aspx

  
3
In the eighteenth century: W. R. Ward, “The Administration of the Window and Assessed Taxes, 1696–1798,”
English Historical Review
68 (1952): 522–42.
http://www.buildinghistory.org/taxation.shtml

  
4
Peter the Great taxed:
Modern History Sourcebook: Peter the Great and the Rise of Russia, 1682–1725,
Fordham University.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/petergreat.asp

  
5
In 1779, Britain: “A Tax to Beat Napoleon,” HM Revenue and Customs.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/history/taxhis1.htm

  
6
“After the income tax”: Quoted in Daniel Gross, “A Look Back at America’s Time of Temperance,”
Newsweek,
June 6, 2010.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/06/01/a-look-back-at-america-s-time-of-temperance.html

  
7
Initially, the income tax: Michael J. Graetz,
The U.S. Income Tax: What It Is, How It Got That Way, and Where We Go from Here
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1997), 16. Also see Bruce Bartlett,
The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform—Why We Need It and What It Will Take
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), 249; and Tax Foundation, “Federal
Individual Income Tax Rates History.”
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/fed_
individual_rate_history_nominal&adjusted-20110909.pdf

  
8
“Because of the need”: Joel Slemrod and Jon Bakija,
Taxing Ourselves: A Citizen’s Guide to the Great Debate over Tax Reform
(Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996), 23.

  
9
In contrast: Corporation Income Tax Brackets and Rates, 1909–2002.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/02corate.pdf

10
In the early 1950s: Bartlett,
Benefit and Burden,
3–12.

11
That last factor: U.S. Treasury, “The President’s Framework for Corporate Tax Reform,” February 2012, 8.
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/Documents/The-Presidents-Framework-for-Business-Tax-Reform-02-22-2012.pdf

12
For every $1: U.S. Census Bureau, “Quarterly Summary of State and Local Tax Revenue.”
http://www.census.gov/govs/qtax/

13
State and local governments: Tax Policy Center, “State and Local Tax Revenue as a Percentage of Personal Income, 1977–2009.”
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=511

14
At last count: Center for Responsive Politics, “Lobbying Database.”
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/

15
“Gore lost”: Interview, Jon Talisman.

16
“It’s very difficult”: Interview, Grover Norquist.

17
Republicans who violate: “The Pledge: Grover Norquist’s Hold on the GOP,”
60 Minutes
, November 20, 2011.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57327816/the-pledge-grover-norquists-hold-on-the-gop/

18
“I don’t want to abolish”: “Profile: Political Activist Grover Norquist,”
Morning Edition,
NPR, May 25, 2001.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1123439

19
He is funny: “Funniest Celebrity in Washington,” September 30, 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWs0wAuNPY8

20
When he successfully: Bernie Becker, “Vote to End Ethanol Subsidies Revives Coburn-Norquist Tax Revenue Battle,”
The Hill,
June 11, 2011.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/165891-ethanol-subsidies-revive-coburn-norquist-battle

21
“Which pledge is”:
Meet the Press
transcript, April 24, 2011.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42703787/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/t/meet-press-transcript-april/
; also see Philip Klein, “A Brief History of the Coburn-Norquist Tax Spat and Why It Matters,”
Washington Examiner,
April 25, 2011.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/04/brief-history-coburn-norquist-tax-spat-and-why-it-matters#ixzz1l9502EUR

22
Their federal
income
taxes:
http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/10-25-HouseholdIncome.pdf

23
In 2011, about 40 percent: Tax Policy Center, “Distribution of Tax Units That Pay More in Payroll Taxes Than Individual Income Taxes, by Cash Income Percentile, Current Law, 2011,” June 17, 2011.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?Docid=3073&DocTypeID=2

24
separate estimates by the Tax Policy Center: Personal communication, Tax Policy Center.

25
In December 2011: “Tax System Seen as Unfair, in Need
of Overhaul,” Pew Research Center, December 20, 2011.
http://www.people-press.org/2011/12/20/tax-system-seen-as-unfair-in-need-of-overhaul/
; also see Gallup Poll, “Taxes,”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1714/taxes.aspx

26
“Tax returns of the rich”: Joseph J. Thorndike, “The Lessons of Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns”:
CNN.com
, January 26, 2012.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/26/news/economy/
romney_tax_returns/index.htm

27
Romney’s return revealed: Tax History Project, “Presidential Tax Returns.”
http://taxhistory.tax.org/www/website.nsf/Web/PresidentialTaxReturns?OpenDocument

28
(taxed at a lower rate than wages): Tax Policy Center, “Average Effective Federal Tax Rates by Cash Income Percentiles, 2011 Baseline: Current Law,” February 8, 2012.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?Docid=3277

29
newspaper editors: “Question-and-Answer Session at the Annual Convention of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, Orlando, Florida,” November 17, 1973.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=4046&st=associated+press&st1=#axzz1td0m7mRJ

30
testimony by the Treasury secretary: Joseph W. Barr, “Statement of Hon. Joseph W. Barr, Secretary of the Treasury,” in U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee,
Hearings on the 1969 Economic Report of the President,
pt. 1, 91st Cong., 1st sess., January 17
(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1969), 4–98. Also see Graetz,
U.S. Income Tax,
113.

31
first AMT taxpayer: William D. Samons, “President Nixon’s Troublesome Tax Returns,” April 11, 2005.
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.
nsf/cf7c9c870b600b9585256df80075b9dd/
f8723e3606cd79ec85256ff6006f82c3?OpenDocument

32
Nixon’s successor: Ibid.

33
“Those who have done well”: “Remarks by the President on Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction,” Rose Garden, September 19, 2011.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/19/remarks-president-economic-growth-and-deficit-reduction

34
“You know, there was”: Mitt Romney at Iowa State Fair, transcript, August 11, 2011.

35
Here’s where things stand today: Tax Policy Center, “Share of Taxes Paid by Filing Status and Demographics, Under Current Law, by Cash Income Percentile, 2011,” February 2, 2012.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?Docid=3271

36
size of the slice:
http://g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/topincomes

37
The snapshot for 2008: Internal Revenue Service, “The 400 Individual Income Tax Returns Reporting the Highest Adjusted Gross Incomes Each Year, 1992–2008.”
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/08intop400.pdf

38
“The very rich”:
http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/2011/05/12/the-very-rich-really-are-different/

39
Nearly 60 percent of their gross income:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/08intop400.pdf

40
After food stamps: Internal Revenue Service, “Earned Income Tax Credit Statistics.”
http://www.eitc.irs.gov/central/eitcstats/

41
Weapons Supply Tax Credit: Edward Kleinbard, “The Congress Within the Congress: How Tax Expenditures Distort Our Budget and Our Political Processes,”
Ohio
Northern Law Review
6, no. 2 (2010): 1–30.
http://weblaw.usc.edu/assets/docs/contribute/Kleinbard%20ONU%20proofs%20Final.pdf

42
These “tax expenditures”: Office of Management and Budget,
Fiscal Year 2013 Analytical Perspectives,
“Estimates of Total Income Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 2011–2017,” Table 17–1.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/
fy2013/assets/spec.pdf

43
$2.3 trillion: Kleinbard, “The Congress Within the Congress,” 26.

44
“It is just spending”: Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction,
Hearing: Overview of Previous Debt Proposals,
November 1, 2011.
http://www.c-span.org/Events/Super-Committee-Looks-at-Past-Debt-Proposals/10737425140-1/

45
about 10 percent of the spending: Office of Manage-ment and Budget,
Fiscal Year 2013 Analytical Perspectives,
Table 17-1.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/
fy2013/assets/spec.pdf

46
If all the tax expenditures: Joint Committee on Taxation, memo, October 27, 2011.
http://www.novoco.com/hottopics/resource_files/jct-memo_tax-expenditure-repeal_102711.pdf

47
“All real estate”: Congressional Research Service, “Tax Expenditures” (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2007), 336.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CPRT-109SPRT31188
/pdf/CPRT-109SPRT31188.pdf

48
The revenues lost:
http://www.budget.senate.gov/democratic/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=8a03a030-3ba8-4835-a67b-9c4033c03ec4
, p. 425.

49
“readily realizable market value”:
http://www.exeter1031.com/history_section_1031.aspx

50
“If all exchanges”: Quoted in Boris I. Bittker and Lawrence Lokken,
Federal Taxation of Income, Gifts and Trusts, 3d ed.
(Valhalla, N.Y: Warren, Gorham & Lamont, 2000), Section 44.2.1, p. 564.

51
one can swap a dental office: Atlas 1031 Exchange LLC, “The 1031 Exchange Blog: Medical, Dental and Veterinary Practice 1031 Exchange.”
http://www.atlas1031.com/blog/1031-exchange/bid/41380/Medical-Dental-and-Veterinary-Practice-1031-Exchange

52
One can trade horses: Atlas 1031 Exchange LLC, “The 1031 Exchange Blog: Livestock Eligible for 1031 Exchange.”
http://www.atlas1031.com/blog/1031-exchange/bid/37086/Livestock-Eligible-for-1031-Exchange

53
“Livestock of different sexes”: Internal Revenue Service, “Like-Kind Exchanges—Real Estate Tax Tips,” February 17, 2012.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/industries/article/0’’id=98491,00.html

54
“any strategy for reducing”: “HR. 1249: An Act to Amend Title 35, United States Code, to Provide for Patent Reform,” January 5, 2011, 44.
http://www.uspto.gov/aia_implementation/bills-112hr1249enr.pdf

55
“you can make”:
http://accruit.com/accruit-1031-single-like-kind-exchanges/

56
Joe and Marilynn Croydon: Sam Smith, “Case Study: 1031 Exchanges and Vintage Motorcars,”
Accruit.com
.
http://accruit.com/case-study-1031-exchanges-and-vintage-motorcars/