Countywide & Sun - Tax Dollars Belong To You, Not The Government

Op-Ed

By James Lankford

Chapter 13 of the Book of Romans describes how God establishes all authority, including the authority to govern. "This is also why you pay taxes," verse six begins, "for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."

To God goes the glory, to government go the taxes.

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the Constitution states, "The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." American families now relinquish up to 40% of their hard-earned pay to the state and federal government in the form of income taxes each year.

The money families give our government to carry out the core functions of government represents food on the table, potential college savings, retirement savings and much more. Washington should not flippantly spend money that represents our work toward achieving our American dream.

At least $200 billion of taxpayers' hard-earned money is wasted each year by mismanagement of federal programs, fraud, duplication and overlap of federal programs. Let me offer you one example: fraud in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The EITC is an anti-poverty initiative intended to wipe out federal income tax liability for qualifying low-income families, and it often gives cash payments as well. According to the Wall Street Journal, the EITC is, "a case study in the problems that can occur when Washington delivers benefit programs through the individual tax system." The EITC program has a 22% fraud rate with more than $12 billion in fraud each year.

Anti-poverty initiatives should focus on Americans helping our friends, neighbors and church families. Washington has never made anything run smarter, better or more efficiently. In fact, at 73,000 pages and counting, our tax code is no exception. Waste, loopholes and special interests of Members of Congress plague our tax system and waste your money.

While we're all required to pay taxes, my duty as your Representatives should prioritize protecting my neighbors and fellow taxpayers from mismanagement, waste and fraud. My job should focus on saving tax-payer money, more than spending tax-payer money.

That's why I authored the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act (H.R. 1423), which passed the House last month. It represents a "who, what, where, when, why and how" report card of federal agencies and programs for taxpayers to hold them accountable. Congress cannot fix what it cannot see.

Dr. Coburn's work in the Senate all these years to shed light on the vast amount of waste in the federal government is unparalleled. He recently introduced the companion legislation to the Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act in the Senate. I urge Majority Leader Reid to bring this common-sense, bipartisan legislation to the Senate floor for a vote. We must ensure we provide the American taxpayers as much transparency as possible. We will continue to hold hearings, probe federal agencies for waste and fraud and work locally as advocates for our taxpayers.

As you sit down to write your check to the Internal Revenue Service and/or the Oklahoma Tax Commission this year--if you haven't already--remember, that is your money, not the government's money. Government is your servant, not the other way around.

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