SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Everything we do in the government has a system. More often than not, these systems are inefficient, costly, and lack common sense. This does not mean government workers have no common sense, but more likely, they have to operate within a system that denies them the use of common sense.

An example: My office has no light-switch. We can't turn off the lights when we leave, and I have 6 double-tube fluorescent lights... more »

Hmm, how to save money? Hey, I have an idea: let's try "living" within/below our means. For starters, how about we cut off foreign aid, both to foreign countries as well as to foreign nationals who come to this country for the purpose of taking advantage of our very lax and very stupid immigration and public social services policies. Why are we taking care of the citizens of other countries while neglecting or even... more »

Many times over the weekend at federal facilities the lights and computers remain on. The cost savings would be enormous if we can encourage people to shut the power off and get engineering to power down the central controlled electricity on unused floors.

Institute a flat tax percentage for all individuals regardless of income level.

As of today, 100,000 tax preparers have fail to the new registration requirement imposed by the IRS. The service should prioritize the review and examinations these non registrars and question the returns that they prepare. This would show our dedication to transparency. There is more of a chance tax preparers who are not registered, to be less compliance than other registered CPAs , tax attorneys, and registered preparers.... more »

Create a flat tax for everyone with no loop holes, exemptions, or tax breaks.

Reduce the size of the IRS by at least one half of current staffing, associated offices, and vehicles.

This would create a vast resource of monies for government and remove the associated bureaucracies that weigh this great nation down. It would be a very positive step in getting our nation out of the massive debt crisis.

Our building lease for office space includes utilities like heating, cooling, water, and electricity, but because those utilities costs for our consumption are charged back to the government, then we should send out periodic reminders to all staff (both federal and contractors) reminding them to reduce waste and promote economical and environmentally friendly use of utilities. For example, our overhead fluorescent lights... more »

DO NOT RAISE THE DEBT CEILING! Pass a budget (preferably a balanced budget). Repeal the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." Next, entitlement reform (privitization of Social Security, etc.). End alternative energy and farm subsidies. Decrease the size of the Federal government and empower the state governments. Enact spending caps and term limits on the Legislature. Consolidate duplicate governemnt programs... more »

Dismantle the IRS, impose a flat tax; shrinks the size of the Federal Government, simplifies the tax code, saves unfathomable amounts of paper (goes green), saves taxpayers countless hours of frustration and wasted time, saves money, increases tax revenues. This historic change would be lauded for decades. Stand up against the lobbyists that would try to block this historic and transformation advance.

Federal Tax - For people making between $0 – $1M, pay 5% of the gross earnings for every paycheck we get directly to the Federal government. Also, buy (about) 5% of the gross earnings in Treasury Bonds, not redeemable for 5 years. This will be our “rainy day” fund to pay for natural disasters, to pay for wars, to pay for energy/ education/ infrastructure/ humanitarian services, to pay for reducing the National Debt,... more »

Do away with the upper class millionaire and billionaires that only pay taxes on the first 100K of income? It is not fair that the middle class struggles b/c the rich get a huge tax break and don't contribute their fair share. This is a policy change and would eleviate the debt and no longer protect special interest groups. This is the only way equality can be reached across the board. if this doesn't change, the... more »

If you’re going to reduce the FORCE make sure you get rid of the right ones (lazy) first. Doing more with less with less productive people just does not make any common sense. I’m talking both civilians and military. Start with ranking all those annual reports/people and get rid of the low performance. We spend millions of man-hours creating these annual reports on performance but never use them when we get rid workers.... more »