The 4th of July conjures up many memories for people: Fireworks, music, parades, beaches, barbecue, boating, and booze to name a few. When you’re a budget wonk, you see skyrocketing spending everywhere you look. Here’s the 4th through our green eye shades.

Fireworks – The next generation bomber, the B-21, is still a gleam in the Air Force’s eye, but officials are  moving ahead with buying them – yet we still don’t know the cost. After a history of acquisition cost overruns, the Senate Armed Services Committee agreed with Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and decided it was better to hide the cost estimate from the public. The rationale? Letting people like you, the taxpayers, know the projected  cost would give “our enemies” too much information about the program. If this were really an issue, the Air Force wouldn’t have acknowledged the existence of the program.

The bands – The U.S. military has more than 130 different musical units – from traditional marching bands to singing groups that perform sea chanteys costing close to $500 million per year. We’re a sucker for a John Phillip Sousa march in the local 4th of July parade, but let’s face it – musical units are not a “core competency” for the Pentagon. Thankfully, Reps. Martha McSally (R-AZ), Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Steve Pearce (R-NM) got an amendment to the Defense spending bill restricting musical military units from performing at entertainment events such as dinners, dances, and other social events.

Old Glory – Ever since Betsy Ross sewed the first one in 1776, the American flag has been a major part of our 4th of July celebrations. Since 2014, all flags purchased by the Pentagon must be compliant with the Berry Amendment. The provision, originating  during World War II, requires the Departments of Defense to purchase certain textile products from U.S. manufacturers. Congress keeps up the protectionism: Thread, zippers, and other fasteners are all now subject to the provision. The solution? Reduce costs by purchasing the lowest cost product that meets defense performance needs.

Beaches – Stroll the coast and watch your tax dollars wash into the ocean. Every year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mines sand offshore and pumps it onto beaches. Many of these “beach nourishment” projects have been churning sand, and tax dollars, for 50 years. In 2014 Congress gave some of them a 15-year extension. Better to leave this chore  to local communities that reap the benefits.

Lump Charcoal – Hardwood charcoal is a big seller in the grocery market.  Of course, we don’t know the forests that this wood comes from, but it does make us wonder why taxpayers aren’t getting a fair return from trees harvested in the National Forest system. Quite incredibly,  the country is losing millions of dollars every year on federal timber production, particularly in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The Forest Service spends a lot more to administer timber sales than it receives in revenue from the sales – in the Tongass, a total loss of $130.5 million.

Barbecue – Whatever you’re grilling, nearly $20 billion in annual agricultural subsidies means you paid more than you realize. Ranchers get checks when cattle die. Taxpayers subsidize insurance on everything from almonds to oysters. And new programs covering “shallow” dips in anticipated revenue for corn and soybean growers–programs promised to save taxpayer dollars–are now billions over budget. Makes the farm bill tough to swallow.

Booze – Whether you’re drinking beer or swilling booze, that happy moment will be costing you a bit more.  Literally, Congress keeps extending a “cover over” provision that sends part of excise tax revenue from Puerto Rican or U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) rum back to the territories. USVI used that revenue to build Diageo, the Britain-based largest liquor conglomerate in the world, a new distillery to move Captain Morgan production there from Puerto Rico – from one U.S. territory to another. And while we like our craft beer, in the midst of microbrew boom brewers are trying to roll back federal taxes on their product.

Parades – Lots of gasoline used in those parades. Unfortunately, the $34 billion in revenue generated by the federal gas tax is about $16 billion less than the $50 billion lawmakers plan to spend annually on transportation. In response they have abandoned “user pays” principle and raided other coffers and used fake offsets to cover their profligacy.

Boating – Whether you’re tooling around in a Bay Craft or Chris Craft, you don’t really need the channel for commercial shipping. But you’re paying for it. All along the Eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast, ports are scrambling to dredge deeper channels in a (mostly) vain attempt to attract the larger Neo Panamax ships that will (possibly) be traversing the enlarged Panama Canal. Taxpayers are heavily subsidizing this race to the bottom with no guarantee that the traffic will actual materialize while certainly guaranteeing waste because of massive overcapacity.

Enjoy your 4th! Happy birthday, America! But on the 5th join us to rein in the hangover of wasteful spending, programs, and policies.

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