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How The Federal Government Wasted $30 Billion of Your Tax Dollars in 2013

For the last few years, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn has released an annual “waste report”. This year, Coburn’s 177-page report details $30 billion in wasted tax dollars ranging from billion dollar military waste to the $15,000 the government spent to collect and test human urine as fertilizer.

The single biggest price tag on the extensive list was $7 billion in military equipment that the Pentagon plans to destroy instead of spending money to ship it back to the states or sell it to allies because the government doesn’t want others to have it.

The military proved the biggest waster in the report. Aside from the wasted equipment, the Department of Defense has grounded Air Force Thunderbird jets and Navy Blue Angel jets yet continues to spend more than $630 million to build new ones.

Government spending wasn’t the only thing that cost the taxpayer this year. Facebook, who is bringing over $1 billion per year, will not pay any taxes on their profits for the third straight year. The company is likely to actually get a massive government tax refund. Facebook, despite not paying any taxes, earned $429 million in tax refunds between 2010 and 2011.

The Senator also cited $65 million of federal aid for Hurricane Sandy relief that went to tourism advertising. The report featured numerous other items ranging from thousands of dollars to millions that are sure to have taxpayers shaking their heads the next time they send the federal government a check. Some of the items included:

-$1.5 million for FBI employees to work as consultants with Hollywood producers to help them better “portray the agency in movies.”

-$5 million for new hand-blown stemware for the State Department, that just happened to be purchased just ahead of the October government shutdown.

-$124,955 for a 3D printer for NASA that could print pizzas.

-$3.5 billion in pay going to federal employees who owe back taxes to the government.

-$40,810 in funding for a miniature toy museum in Denver.

Of course, Coburn only detailed the waste there’s a record of. Earlier this year, a Reuters investigation found that the Pentagon has spent $8.5 trillion since 1996 without any way to account for where that money went.

(Image: Senate Democrats)

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