Latest / Brian Thomas / Dave Williams is looking out for your taxpayer dollars

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Dave Williams is looking out for your taxpayer dollars · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: The Talk Station. There it is. 706 here, 55 KRC,
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  Speaker 1: The Talk Station. Regular listeners know. Coming up right now.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the 55 KRC Morning Show. Mr. Streetcar himself,
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  Speaker 1: Dave Williams from the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, protectingtaxpayers.org. Dave, it's
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: good to have you back on the show, man. Welcome.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, Brian. And I got to tell you, if I
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  Speaker 2: ever make it into the major leagues... That's going to
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  Speaker 2: be my walk-up music.
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  Speaker 1: It should be.
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  Speaker 2: That will be, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, my morning show theme, I always open
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  Speaker 1: the morning show with Enema from Tool. And if you
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  Speaker 1: read the lyrics, you know exactly why that is my
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  Speaker 1: favorite song lyrically. And that's what I open up with.
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  Speaker 1: But what a perfect song for you, Dave.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what?
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  Speaker 1: Hey, our little loop streetcar that really takes you from
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  Speaker 1: point A to point B doesn't really effectively get people
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  Speaker 1: where they need to go, I guess, unless it's raining.
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  Speaker 1: It's free. It generated $ 1. 3 billion of revenue for the
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  Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati investment. Where do you think that figure
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  Speaker 1: came from, Dave?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I can tell you, but you'd be fined by
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  Speaker 2: the FCC.
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  Speaker 1: Sphincter. The answer is sphincter. Everybody's got one. They pulled
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  Speaker 1: it out. Yeah, okay. Dave, we don't need to. Well,
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  Speaker 1: or the bubbling bong of stupidity. Either way, if you
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  Speaker 1: utter it, it must be true. Dave Williams, have you seen,
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  Speaker 1: I know it's going on all over this country, massive
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  Speaker 1: protests over golf courses and their water usage. That's a thing,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it? Oh, no, it isn't.
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  Speaker 2: No. You know, it's funny you bring this up because
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  Speaker 2: I have a friend who is a Republican, lives out
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  Speaker 2: in Virginia. He hates data centers, right? He just says
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  Speaker 2: they use too much water, yet he golfs three times
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  Speaker 2: a week. And he would probably drive over his own
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  Speaker 2: mother to build a new golf course. And I'm like,
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  Speaker 2: wait a second. You do know that there's a problem
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  Speaker 2: here with your logic. So, yes, it's interesting.
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  Speaker 1: And let's sprinkle a little AI overview of that data.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to assume for the sake of discussion that
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  Speaker 1: this is accurate. I said, how much water does the
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  Speaker 1: average golf course use per year? Answer, 90 to 114
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  Speaker 1: million gallons. which averages out to 312,000 gallons per day,
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  Speaker 1: which I think dwarfs any data center usage of water.
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  Speaker 1: And no one even considers the fact that, like the
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  Speaker 1: radiators in our car, closed-loop cooling systems are all the
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  Speaker 1: rage these days, so minimal water usage.
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  Speaker 2: So, Brian, we looked at the numbers, and we looked
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  Speaker 2: at the numbers in Ohio and a lot of other states.
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  Speaker 2: I think we're up to 40 states at this point
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  Speaker 2: that in Ohio— 0.6% of all water consumption is used
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  Speaker 2: by data centers. 0.6, less than 1% of water consumption
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  Speaker 2: in the state of Ohio is data centers. Those are
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  Speaker 2: the numbers. That's not spin. Those are numbers.
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  Speaker 1: So is the overall volume of water used by golf courses?
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  Speaker 1: And I'm quick to observe a lot of other industries
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  Speaker 1: and businesses use a lot of water. They all seem
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  Speaker 1: to be immune from criticism by protesters. This has nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with water. This has everything to do with
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  Speaker 1: people's concern over AI just generally.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And listen, I know people are afraid of AI,
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  Speaker 2: but AI is happening and it's going to be more
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  Speaker 2: a part of our lives in the coming years. And
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  Speaker 2: do we want it developed here or do we want
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  Speaker 2: it developed abroad? We want it here. We want to
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  Speaker 2: get the economic benefit. Virginia, the state of Virginia has
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  Speaker 2: seen massive economic boom. I mean, they have reduced property
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  Speaker 2: taxes and in certain counties in Virginia because of data centers.
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  Speaker 2: Data centers are writing checks, dividend checks, a real dividend check,
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  Speaker 2: not the fake dividend check coming from the federal government,
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  Speaker 2: but a real dividend check coming from companies to the citizens.
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  Speaker 2: They're building infrastructure, not data centers. They're building aquatic centers.
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  Speaker 2: They're building all sorts of infrastructure in these counties. People
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  Speaker 2: are getting rich off of these data centers. That's great.
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  Speaker 2: This is what this country should be. This is infrastructure.
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  Speaker 2: This is amazing. And people are protesting them.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, they are. Now, power demand may be one thing
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  Speaker 1: you might want to worry about, but the biggest impediment
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  Speaker 1: to power generation, reliable power generation, is everybody on the
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  Speaker 1: left-hand side of the political ledger and anybody else who
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  Speaker 1: believes that exhalation is killing the planet. I mean... If
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  Speaker 1: data centers were free to bring their own electricity, I
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  Speaker 1: know it's theoretically possible because we do have small modular
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  Speaker 1: reactors that are a real thing that exist right now.
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  Speaker 1: If we got ourselves out of our own way, we
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  Speaker 1: might be able to have that, and we'd all have cheap, inexpensive,
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  Speaker 1: small footprint, low water use, no waste electricity. Right, Dave?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And listen, technology brings more efficiencies. Look at the
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  Speaker 2: automobile and the mileage we're getting out of automobiles. The
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  Speaker 2: same thing is going to happen with data centers and
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  Speaker 2: whether they're using water or electricity, it's going to become
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  Speaker 2: more efficient. And they should be allowed to build these
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  Speaker 2: small modular nuclear reactors. They should use all energy sources
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  Speaker 2: that they can. And a lot of times it's permitting.
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  Speaker 2: It's county, it's state permitting that gets in the way
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  Speaker 2: of the development of this. So the state says you're
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  Speaker 2: losing using all this electricity. Well, give us the opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to use our own electricity. So the state gets in
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  Speaker 2: the way.
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  Speaker 1: So where do you see this thing shaking out, Dave Williams,
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  Speaker 1: if you had to tea leaf read? So I think
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: because we've got to throw in the reality that we're
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  Speaker 1: dealing with right now, that out of nowhere came this, oh,
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  Speaker 1: my God, we're all going to die. AI is going
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  Speaker 1: to kill us so that this is this a false
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  Speaker 1: flag kind of thing going on? Because right in front
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  Speaker 1: of the November election, we got all the Democrats come
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  Speaker 1: up and say, no, we need to put the brakes
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  Speaker 1: on AI. Look what they say it can do. And
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  Speaker 1: as soon as Barack Obama sticks his head up and
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  Speaker 1: is joining the chorus of that side, I know there
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  Speaker 1: is something nefarious going on here that has nothing to
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  Speaker 1: do with us dying.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if you want to kill a technology and a
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  Speaker 2: good idea, give it to Congress. Have Congress do something
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  Speaker 2: about it. And listen, I think with data centers, there's
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  Speaker 2: going to be the haves and the have-nots. The areas
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  Speaker 2: that don't have the moratorium, they're going to see the
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  Speaker 2: building of these data centers. They're going to see the
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  Speaker 2: economic benefits of these data centers. The have-nots are the
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  Speaker 2: ones that that they think the sky is falling and
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  Speaker 2: they're gonna look to their neighbor and go, whoa, why
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  Speaker 2: didn't we do that? Why do we have a moratorium?
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  Speaker 2: And they're gonna try to catch up to them. And
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  Speaker 2: we've interviewed property owners a few months ago, actually last month,
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  Speaker 2: we interviewed property owners in Virginia that were not allowed
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  Speaker 2: sell their own property. They approached a data center and said,
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  Speaker 2: we want to sell you our property so you can
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  Speaker 2: build here. The county and the state said, no. You
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  Speaker 2: had these greeny nonprofits coming in and saying, you can't
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  Speaker 2: sell your own property. What kind of country do we
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  Speaker 2: live in? When a property owner who has owned this
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  Speaker 2: property for 80, 100 years and said, listen, farming doesn't
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  Speaker 2: make us money anymore. We want to sell the property
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  Speaker 2: to a data center. No, you can't. You don't have
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  Speaker 2: control over your own property.
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  Speaker 1: This is like a two-fold thing here. The property owner
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  Speaker 1: has the right to alienate the property, has an absolute
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  Speaker 1: right to sell the property. It is a thing that
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  Speaker 1: they are entitled to by virtue of ownership to sell.
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  Speaker 1: Just because you sell it to Chad GPT's owner or something,
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  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean it's necessarily going to result in a
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  Speaker 1: data center where your property is. They have to deal
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  Speaker 1: with the challenges, the regulatory issues and everything else that's
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  Speaker 1: standing in the way of them building a data center.
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  Speaker 1: But acquisition of land, that should not factor into the
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  Speaker 1: equation because they're not creating a data center by the
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  Speaker 1: sale of land.
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  Speaker 2: And these same property owners that the state came in
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  Speaker 2: and said, we're putting up these huge transmission lines in
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  Speaker 2: your backyard. Nothing you can do about it. So we
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  Speaker 2: are going to tell you what to do with your
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  Speaker 2: property and what you can't do. And this is not
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  Speaker 2: the country that I was.
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  Speaker 1: Born in, man. No, but this is the kind of
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  Speaker 1: thing that DSA platform and the advocates for the government
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  Speaker 1: control will absolutely bring you in all facets and areas
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  Speaker 1: of your life. Look, Dave, I just got done with
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  Speaker 1: the terror. Listen, I I recognize the 55K Racing Morning
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  Speaker 1: Show traditionally perceived to be an AM radio station. Terrestrially speaking,
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  Speaker 1: you've got to have an AM radio. I am against
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  Speaker 1: Congress telling automobile manufacturers that they must put an AM
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  Speaker 1: radio in their car. They're telling manufacturers what to do,
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  Speaker 1: and I stand against that just as a concept, Dave.
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  Speaker 1: Where's the TPA on that one?
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  Speaker 2: This is so bizarre because we have so many problems
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  Speaker 2: in this country, fiscal problems. We have a president that
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  Speaker 2: wants to spend $ 1. 2 trillion on stimulus, dividend, whatever you
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  Speaker 2: want to call it. Not dividend because the government doesn't
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  Speaker 2: make any money. But he wants to spend $ 1. 2 trillion
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  Speaker 2: on these checks. What does Congress take up? AM radio
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  Speaker 2: in cars. NCAA sports. What the NCAA can do with sports. What?
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  Speaker 2: Are these really the priorities? And then Mike Johnson, Speaker
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  Speaker 2: of the House, adjourns early and leaves Washington yesterday so
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  Speaker 2: they can go home and try to convince people they're
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  Speaker 2: doing a good job. That's why he left, is he
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  Speaker 2: wants Republicans to go home to campaign and say, reelect
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  Speaker 2: me because I've done so much.
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  Speaker 1: What?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the priorities are completely out of whack. AM
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  Speaker 2: radio and cars, that is not a priority for Congress
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  Speaker 2: at all.
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  Speaker 1: And again, it's The means of production. Capitalist demands serve
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  Speaker 1: demands of the people. And if the people want AM radios,
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  Speaker 1: then they're going to damn well put a radio in
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  Speaker 1: the car. Don't buy a BMW if you don't like
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  Speaker 1: the fact it doesn't have an AM radio in it. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance. Find them online at protectingtaxpayers.org.
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  Speaker 1: We've got a whole lot more to talk about beyond
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  Speaker 1: data centers, including Medicare payment reforms. They say long overdue,
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  Speaker 1: the TPA does. Don't go away. Be right back. 720 here,
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  Speaker 1: 55KRCD Talk Station. Dave Williams. It's been a long time
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: since we had Dave on the program. He's with Taxpayer
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  Speaker 1: Protection Alliance, which you should follow. online. Bookmark the site, protectingtaxpayers.org.
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  Speaker 1: You ever get to the point where you think you're
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  Speaker 1: just going to give up, Dave?
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  Speaker 2: Yes and no. I mean, there are times where I
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: just like, you know, but then the D.C. streetcar goes away.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, my gosh, there is hope. There
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  Speaker 2: is a light at the end of the tunnel when
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  Speaker 2: it's not the streetcar coming to hit me.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, the predicate for me asking that question,
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  Speaker 1: and I know you're not going to give up, is
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  Speaker 1: the reporting you, Ross Morshon, I'll give credit to, wrote
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  Speaker 1: the article about Medicare payment reforms are long overdue. And
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  Speaker 1: this fun fact, a quote from the editorial board of
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  Speaker 1: the Washington Post, of the projected $ 138 trillion budget shortfall
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  Speaker 1: over the next 30 years, $ 109 trillion is from Medicare.
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  Speaker 1: $ 138, 000 trillion is the projected shortfall? $ 138, 000 billion is what
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  Speaker 1: they're projecting on the current trajectory? Have we gone bat
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  Speaker 1: crap insane? Has the train left the building, Dave? Because
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  Speaker 1: that's impossible. We can't continue to dig this hole.
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  Speaker 2: The insanity, Brian, is that No one's doing anything about it.
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  Speaker 1: I know.
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  Speaker 2: The insanity is that Congress has their head in the sand.
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  Speaker 2: And listen, this is both Democrats and Republicans. Let's be
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  Speaker 2: clear that Democrats are calling for Medicare for all. That
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  Speaker 2: number that you just mentioned will be a lot more
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  Speaker 2: if we have Medicare for all. You know, the DSA
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  Speaker 2: wing of the Democratic Party wants to expand Medicare to
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  Speaker 2: a point where we don't even recognize it. And we
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  Speaker 2: need some common sense reform. We have to figure this out.
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  Speaker 2: With interest rates going up, the debt is going to
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  Speaker 2: go up. Interest on the debt is going to increase.
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  Speaker 2: And Medicare, Social Security, these are the drivers of the
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  Speaker 2: debt and of the deficit.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Dave, the answer then is we need Medicare for all.
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  Speaker 2: Medicare for all money.
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  Speaker 1: This is the key to the Democrats' platforms is Medicare
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  Speaker 1: for all. It's almost the first. platform position they utter
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  Speaker 1: in any discussion on what they want to do with
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  Speaker 1: the country. Well, I was going to say Cato calculated
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the numbers and even just doing that one thing, aside
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  Speaker 1: from all the other things they want to do to
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  Speaker 1: destroy our country, we can't even afford that one thing
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  Speaker 1: on the trajectory we're on. It's just, it's trillions of dollars,
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  Speaker 1: even over a decade or something crazy like that.
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  Speaker 2: And healthcare isn't getting any better as a, you know,
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: let's call this a business, right? the Taxpayers Protection Alliance,
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  Speaker 2: my healthcare costs go up every single year. We're not
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  Speaker 2: getting better coverage. We're just getting more expensive healthcare. And
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: we're trying to keep pace with that. And we used
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: to be able to cover 100 percent of people's health care.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's 80 percent because we just can't do it
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  Speaker 2: fiscally and financially. And, you know, we're trying to remain
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: competitive with other groups. And it's just not happening, Brian.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we spend a lot of money every year
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  Speaker 2: just on health care. And we always will because we
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: will take care of our people. But it's getting more
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  Speaker 2: expensive and it's not getting better.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and, you know, the big elephant in the room
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  Speaker 1: on this discussion is we are not a very healthy society.
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  Speaker 1: And if we just took a little bit better care
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: of ourselves and ate better food and maybe exercised a
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: little bit in our own lives, we could avoid a
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  Speaker 1: lot of the problems that are associated with needing health care.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I hate to state the obvious, but first
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  Speaker 1: line of defense is man looking at the mirror.
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  Speaker 2: Personal responsibility goes a long way. A long way in
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  Speaker 2: so many things, whether it's health care, whether it's fiscal,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: personal responsibility, it goes a long way.
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  Speaker 1: It sure does. Well, I'll tell you what, we'll take
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: an early break in this segment, almost out of time
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: in the segment anyway. We'll talk about the Taxpayer Assistance
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: and Services Act, which apparently needs to be improved, says
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the Taxpayer Protection Alliance. More with Dave Williams after a
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: mention of really a great talk station. It's 728 at 55KRC,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the talk station. Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance. Ben, it's
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I'm here with the 55 KC Morning Show audience and
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: I appreciate him doing so and appreciate what Taxpayer Protection
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Alliance does for the American taxpayer each and every day.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: At least documented proof that you are well having your
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: labor ripped off and wasted in massive fraud and abuse
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: as well as just mismanaged programs. Talked about Medicare a
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: moment ago. We're now we're going to dive into the TAS,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: the Taxpayer Assistance and Services Act. Um, Described as the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: most extensive overhaul of the Federal Tax Administration in years,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: and you're singing some praises for it over the Taxpayer
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Protection Alliance, Dave, but it apparently needs a few tweaks.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Generally speaking, what does this do up front before tweaks,
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  Speaker 1: and what do we need to do to it to
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: make it perfect?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, really, this is just updating the IRS to make
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: refunds more accessible. Now, listen. I don't get a refund
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: because I don't give the IRS too much money over
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: the course of the year. I would rather pay a
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: little bit in April just to make sure that they
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: are not using my money.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I know, time value money, the nearest to your benefit.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: You put it in the pocket. You know you could
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: put it in an investment account, and that money you
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: extra overpaid could earn interest at least. Yeah, don't give
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: it to them. I sing that song every single year.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: I'd rather write a check than get one back.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and one of the provisions is really to put
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: a shot clock on refund claims, right? Because right now,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: if you do a refund, they can take years and
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: years until they decide to look at your claim. Well,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: the shot clock now is a year, 12 months. And
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of what happens, Brian, is that
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  Speaker 2: people are afraid. People are afraid because the IRS wields
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  Speaker 2: so much power. Listen, the Pentagon spends $ 1 trillion today.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: to bomb places, but it doesn't have as much power
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: as the IRS and as much fear that the IRS
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: instills in people. And Listen, is this new legislation perfect?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely not. But I think it's a step in the
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: right direction. And we need to recognize that the IRS
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: has to be more responsive and really more technologically savvy.
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  Speaker 2: We have systems in the IRS that are 50 years old,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: computer systems that are 50 years old. And there's been
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: great strides. We've talked about this before, direct file. This
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: was the idea of the IRS preparing your taxes, not
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: just processing them, but preparing them. Luckily, when President Trump
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: came in, they killed that program. That's amazing. Do you
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: want the IRS preparing your taxes and deciding what your
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: deductions are? Well, absolutely not.
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  Speaker 1: I imagine that there are accountant firm lobbying dollars that
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: would hate that reality.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And the fact of the matter is that the
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: IRS is not going to be the one saying, oh,
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  Speaker 2: we really want to give you a big refund. Absolutely not.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I want some nerdy accountant. You know, I'm
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: picturing the visor and the glasses, you know, and that's
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: how old I am. And, you know, determining what my
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: refund or what I have to pay because he's looking
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: out for me. The IRS ain't looking out for me. Shocker.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: No, not at all. And in fact, sometimes it can
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: be weaponized to go after certain organizations and political ideologies.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Remember Lois Lerner, right?
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. She she signed the TPA's letter back in 2011.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: And we so we were lucky, you know, because I
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: guess we didn't have the word liberty or freedom. Right.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: In our name.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: But we were we were approved. And but she weaponized
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: the whole place was weaponized in 2010, 2011.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this, Dave. Oh, and I
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: have to observe a 50 year old system over the IRS. Obviously,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: we've moved beyond floppy drives, but that's the same kind
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: of system they use over the FAA to keep us
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: from crashing planes into each other. Thanks a lot. Talk
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: about priorities. Anyway.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: And the amount of money that we spend when you
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: fly the taxes, where's the modernization of the FAA? And
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: it's just, it's frustrating because we're paying into this and
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: we're getting nothing for it.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: No question about it. Hey, has the idea of, well,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and my, my, my, I will call it a pipe
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: dream as opposed to another kind of dream. But my, my,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: my ultimate dream would be to get rid of the
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: entire IRS tax code and just throw it out in
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: favor of something like a flannel flat tax. where you
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: aren't incentivized to do anything. You just simply pay a
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: flat amount, businesses, industry, individuals, whatever. And that used to
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: be a concept that was widely discussed and embraced by
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: many people, including me, or some concept like that, but
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: no discussion anymore about it. Is that gone the way
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: of the dodo, at least as a concept, or is
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: there some glimmer of hope that I can hold on to?
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Sorry, no glimmer of hope. Listen, I love the flat
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: taxed The problem is that any proposal for the flat
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: tax doesn't dismantle the IRS. So if you have a
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: flat tax, you're building upon the system that's already there
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: and you have to dismantle the IRS. And whenever you
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: talk about a flat tax, then you have the fair
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: tax people calling up. So I think it's really, again,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: but we need to have these discussions. And listen, when
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I say there's no glimmer of hope, I'm not saying
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: we shouldn't talk about it because this is something that
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: needs to be discussed is how do we modernize Our
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: tax system, when I say modernize, I don't mean make
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: it more difficult. I mean, make it simpler and look
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: at the flat tax and what that would mean for revenues.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Well, what would it mean for revenues? Have those numbers
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: been crunched? If you can't deduct, I mean, the left
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: is always screaming about how, you know, big businesses don't
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: pay anything. Those evil billionaires. Well, that's because the IRS
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: has written the tax code. Our elected officials have written
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the tax code to provide them with the benefit of
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: things to let them write off their taxes. It's not
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: a loophole that they benefit from. And it's been intentionally
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: written in there for that purpose. That's the stuff that
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: pisses people off. And that seems to me it should
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: be enjoying. widespread bipartisan support, but I guess lawmakers would
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: be holding to all those businesses and industries that do
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: whatever the hell they want so they wouldn't take away
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: the tax breaks that are in there.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: The last time I saw any numbers that were run
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: for the flat tax, I believe it was like 17%
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: was the sweet spot. 4%. But that was a number
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: of years ago. With the amount of spending we have today,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: that number is probably in the low 20s. But that's
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: what we're talking about. We're talking about low 20s at
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: this point would be the sweet spot to be able
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: to do a flat tax. And again, your postcard, we
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: talk about this, having submitted your taxes on a postcard.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: That was a big thing that Dick Army talked about.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: You probably remember this. Dick Army was a big proponent
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: of the flat tax. That's what he wanted, is just
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: you send in your your postcard, your taxes, and it's done.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Well, and honestly, Dave, I'd even trust the IRS to
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: figure out what 20% of my W-2 revenue is. Only
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: take about a fraction of a second's time. You can't
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: screw up. You just multiply it by, you know, 20%.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: You get the right figure. And you talk about having
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: to eliminate the IRS. Well, it wouldn't be as a
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: matter of course that you could eliminate the IRS simply
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: as a matter of attrition, just let the people either
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: retire or die off, and we won't replace the bodies
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: that are there because they don't have anything left to
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: do now that we've moved on and gotten a flat tax?
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Well, they tried that during Doge for a number of agencies,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: and it backfired, and it didn't work. So, I mean, listen, yes,
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: in theory, that's how it happens. In practice– I'm very
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: concerned that it would never happen that way. And yeah.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: So don't try it. That's what we get.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: It sounds good. Don't try it. But we have to,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: you know, we're not talking about it. That's a problem. Brian,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: I'm glad we're talking about it because no one else
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: is right. No one in Congress is is talking about this.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, in this this furor in this fury,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: justifiably so. And I wish there was more of it over.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: The fraud, the waste, the abuse, the inefficiency of government,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: and every single dollar that's gone out the door and
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: in the pocket of some fraudster is labor. I always
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: like to express taxes in the form of labor. We
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: are literally slaves for whatever percentage of the income they're
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: taking us to the government. You must work for the government.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: You don't get anything from it. They take your money
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: from you. Isn't that slavery, Dave?
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And you look at the waste, fraud and abuse,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: just improper payments and improper payments are not waste, fraud
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: and or abuse. It's a whole different category. Two hundred
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: billion dollars a year in improper payments. This is what
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: the agencies are doing incorrectly. So no one is going
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: in and saying and trying to defraud the government. That's
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: a whole different category. Two hundred billion dollars every year.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: The General Accounting Office defrauds. identifies this, and they do
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: nothing about it. There's maybe one hearing, and then they
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: forget about it.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Well, that sounds to me like a job for artificial intelligence, Dave. Right?
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of, yeah, absolutely. And actually,
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: we've talked to some companies about this, and they have
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: models where they can go in and use AI to
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: look at government and improve government efficiency. And yet, here
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: we are, we're afraid, and we want to put guardrails
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: and You have Bernie Sanders saying that we want to
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: get the FDA involved in AI. And it's just the
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Democrats are missing an opportunity here. And, of course, they
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: always do, right? What do they say? Clutch defeat out
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: of the jaws of victory?
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: It's like the Cincinnati Bengals in most cases, yes. Snatching
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: defeat from the jaws of victory.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Except against Tampa Bay, which I was happy about.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: I'm glad they beat Tampa Bay.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: That was– Well, we can end on a smile. Dave Williams,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Taxpayer Protection Alliance, online again at protectingtaxpayers.org. Dave, I'll look
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: forward to having a discussion with you soon and again
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: on the 55KRC Morning Show. I always appreciate your time
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and your efforts throughout the year and when you're on
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: here on the program.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Brian. Have a great weekend.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: You do the same. 738-55KRC, the talk station. Feel free
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to call.