As I've said before, the federal government seems to have a rather cavalier attitude towards revenue. Any budget cutting they've done has focused exclusively on the expense side to the point that one has to believe that they do not know that a budget is a combination of revenue and expense.
In the 1990s the feds realized that oil companies were underpaying the royalties due the government (i.e., us) for oil extracted from government-owned wells and they did something about it. Why they didn't also look at natural gas royalties is probably an interesting story, but they didn't do so. Hence, the current revenue gap - royalties to be paid to the government for natural gas extracted from property owned by the taxpayers. In FY2005 alone the revenue loss has been estimated at $700 million. Who knows what the total loss is!
While part of the problem is due to shenanigans by the companies, another cause is the stupid rules defining the size of the payment. Instead of just saying the payment is x% of the sales price to the ultimate consumer ('ultimate' to negate their selling to an affiliate as they do now), the government allows a series of arcane deductions. Usually, simple is better and this is a perfect example of that maxim.
In line with this administration's inability to hire competent people, the Inspector General of the Interior Department (which is charged with collecting our money) has termed the department's auditing process "ineffective" and is performed by unqualified auditors.
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