It's Only (Your) Money
The federal government demands that citizens keep accurate tax records or
face serious consequences. But it's a little easier on itself.
A new audit prepared by the General Accounting Office (GAO) for the House
Government Reform and Oversight Committee found the government could not
account for how it spent billions of dollars in fiscal year 1998.
In fact, of the 24 largest federal agencies, only 17 bothered to submit a
report, which is required by law by the "Government Management Reform Act of
1994."
Of those 17, 5 received a failing grade and 6
received "D"s for their handling of taxpayer dollars. Only 2 agencies got
"A"s -- NASA and the National Science Foundation.
This is nothing new -- past audits have found similar problems. "Once again
billions of taxpayer dollars were lost to waste, fraud and
mismanagement," summarized committee member Rep. Stephen Horn (R-California).
In last year's report, the GAO discovered that the Defense Department was
unable to locate the Avenger Missile Launcher. This year the Defense
Department again received failing grades.
(Source: CNN / Roy Lieberman)
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