00:00:00
Speaker 1: The Talk Station. There it is. 706 here, 55 KRC, The Talk Station. Regular listeners know. Coming up right now. Welcome back to the 55 KRC Morning Show. Mr. Streetcar himself, Dave Williams from the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, protectingtaxpayers.org. Dave, it's good to have you back on the show, man. Welcome.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: Thanks, Brian. And I got to tell you, if I ever make it into the major leagues... That's going to be my walk-up music.
00:00:30
Speaker 1: It should be.
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Speaker 2: That will be, yeah.
00:00:32
Speaker 1: Well, you know, my morning show theme, I always open the morning show with Enema from Tool. And if you read the lyrics, you know exactly why that is my favorite song lyrically. And that's what I open up with. But what a perfect song for you, Dave.
00:00:44
Speaker 2: And you know what?
00:00:45
Speaker 1: Hey, our little loop streetcar that really takes you from point A to point B doesn't really effectively get people where they need to go, I guess, unless it's raining. It's free. It generated $ 1. 3 billion of revenue for the city of Cincinnati investment. Where do you think that figure came from, Dave?
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Speaker 2: Oh, I can tell you, but you'd be fined by the FCC.
00:01:05
Speaker 1: Sphincter. The answer is sphincter. Everybody's got one. They pulled it out. Yeah, okay. Dave, we don't need to. Well, or the bubbling bong of stupidity. Either way, if you utter it, it must be true. Dave Williams, have you seen, I know it's going on all over this country, massive protests over golf courses and their water usage. That's a thing, isn't it? Oh, no, it isn't.
00:01:32
Speaker 2: No. You know, it's funny you bring this up because I have a friend who is a Republican, lives out in Virginia. He hates data centers, right? He just says they use too much water, yet he golfs three times a week. And he would probably drive over his own mother to build a new golf course. And I'm like, wait a second. You do know that there's a problem here with your logic. So, yes, it's interesting.
00:01:58
Speaker 1: And let's sprinkle a little AI overview of that data. I'm going to assume for the sake of discussion that this is accurate. I said, how much water does the average golf course use per year? Answer, 90 to 114 million gallons. which averages out to 312,000 gallons per day, which I think dwarfs any data center usage of water. And no one even considers the fact that, like the radiators in our car, closed-loop cooling systems are all the rage these days, so minimal water usage.
00:02:31
Speaker 2: So, Brian, we looked at the numbers, and we looked at the numbers in Ohio and a lot of other states. I think we're up to 40 states at this point that in Ohio— 0.6% of all water consumption is used by data centers. 0.6, less than 1% of water consumption in the state of Ohio is data centers. Those are the numbers. That's not spin. Those are numbers.
00:02:56
Speaker 1: So is the overall volume of water used by golf courses? And I'm quick to observe a lot of other industries and businesses use a lot of water. They all seem to be immune from criticism by protesters. This has nothing to do with water. This has everything to do with people's concern over AI just generally.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And listen, I know people are afraid of AI, but AI is happening and it's going to be more a part of our lives in the coming years. And do we want it developed here or do we want it developed abroad? We want it here. We want to get the economic benefit. Virginia, the state of Virginia has seen massive economic boom. I mean, they have reduced property taxes and in certain counties in Virginia because of data centers. Data centers are writing checks, dividend checks, a real dividend check, not the fake dividend check coming from the federal government, but a real dividend check coming from companies to the citizens. They're building infrastructure, not data centers. They're building aquatic centers. They're building all sorts of infrastructure in these counties. People are getting rich off of these data centers. That's great. This is what this country should be. This is infrastructure. This is amazing. And people are protesting them.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: Yes, they are. Now, power demand may be one thing you might want to worry about, but the biggest impediment to power generation, reliable power generation, is everybody on the left-hand side of the political ledger and anybody else who believes that exhalation is killing the planet. I mean... If data centers were free to bring their own electricity, I know it's theoretically possible because we do have small modular reactors that are a real thing that exist right now. If we got ourselves out of our own way, we might be able to have that, and we'd all have cheap, inexpensive, small footprint, low water use, no waste electricity. Right, Dave?
00:04:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. And listen, technology brings more efficiencies. Look at the automobile and the mileage we're getting out of automobiles. The same thing is going to happen with data centers and whether they're using water or electricity, it's going to become more efficient. And they should be allowed to build these small modular nuclear reactors. They should use all energy sources that they can. And a lot of times it's permitting. It's county, it's state permitting that gets in the way of the development of this. So the state says you're losing using all this electricity. Well, give us the opportunity to use our own electricity. So the state gets in the way.
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Speaker 1: So where do you see this thing shaking out, Dave Williams, if you had to tea leaf read? So I think because we've got to throw in the reality that we're dealing with right now, that out of nowhere came this, oh, my God, we're all going to die. AI is going to kill us so that this is this a false flag kind of thing going on? Because right in front of the November election, we got all the Democrats come up and say, no, we need to put the brakes on AI. Look what they say it can do. And as soon as Barack Obama sticks his head up and is joining the chorus of that side, I know there is something nefarious going on here that has nothing to do with us dying.
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Speaker 2: Well, if you want to kill a technology and a good idea, give it to Congress. Have Congress do something about it. And listen, I think with data centers, there's going to be the haves and the have-nots. The areas that don't have the moratorium, they're going to see the building of these data centers. They're going to see the economic benefits of these data centers. The have-nots are the ones that that they think the sky is falling and they're gonna look to their neighbor and go, whoa, why didn't we do that? Why do we have a moratorium? And they're gonna try to catch up to them. And we've interviewed property owners a few months ago, actually last month, we interviewed property owners in Virginia that were not allowed sell their own property. They approached a data center and said, we want to sell you our property so you can build here. The county and the state said, no. You had these greeny nonprofits coming in and saying, you can't sell your own property. What kind of country do we live in? When a property owner who has owned this property for 80, 100 years and said, listen, farming doesn't make us money anymore. We want to sell the property to a data center. No, you can't. You don't have control over your own property.
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Speaker 1: This is like a two-fold thing here. The property owner has the right to alienate the property, has an absolute right to sell the property. It is a thing that they are entitled to by virtue of ownership to sell. Just because you sell it to Chad GPT's owner or something, that doesn't mean it's necessarily going to result in a data center where your property is. They have to deal with the challenges, the regulatory issues and everything else that's standing in the way of them building a data center. But acquisition of land, that should not factor into the equation because they're not creating a data center by the sale of land.
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Speaker 2: And these same property owners that the state came in and said, we're putting up these huge transmission lines in your backyard. Nothing you can do about it. So we are going to tell you what to do with your property and what you can't do. And this is not the country that I was.
00:07:54
Speaker 1: Born in, man. No, but this is the kind of thing that DSA platform and the advocates for the government control will absolutely bring you in all facets and areas of your life. Look, Dave, I just got done with the terror. Listen, I I recognize the 55K Racing Morning Show traditionally perceived to be an AM radio station. Terrestrially speaking, you've got to have an AM radio. I am against Congress telling automobile manufacturers that they must put an AM radio in their car. They're telling manufacturers what to do, and I stand against that just as a concept, Dave. Where's the TPA on that one?
00:08:28
Speaker 2: This is so bizarre because we have so many problems in this country, fiscal problems. We have a president that wants to spend $ 1. 2 trillion on stimulus, dividend, whatever you want to call it. Not dividend because the government doesn't make any money. But he wants to spend $ 1. 2 trillion on these checks. What does Congress take up? AM radio in cars. NCAA sports. What the NCAA can do with sports. What? Are these really the priorities? And then Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, adjourns early and leaves Washington yesterday so they can go home and try to convince people they're doing a good job. That's why he left, is he wants Republicans to go home to campaign and say, reelect me because I've done so much.
00:09:16
Speaker 1: What?
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Speaker 2: I mean, the priorities are completely out of whack. AM radio and cars, that is not a priority for Congress at all.
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Speaker 1: And again, it's The means of production. Capitalist demands serve demands of the people. And if the people want AM radios, then they're going to damn well put a radio in the car. Don't buy a BMW if you don't like the fact it doesn't have an AM radio in it. Anyway, Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance. Find them online at protectingtaxpayers.org. We've got a whole lot more to talk about beyond data centers, including Medicare payment reforms. They say long overdue, the TPA does. Don't go away. Be right back. 720 here, 55KRCD Talk Station. Dave Williams. It's been a long time since we had Dave on the program. He's with Taxpayer Protection Alliance, which you should follow. online. Bookmark the site, protectingtaxpayers.org. You ever get to the point where you think you're just going to give up, Dave?
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Speaker 2: Yes and no. I mean, there are times where I just like, you know, but then the D.C. streetcar goes away. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, there is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel when 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, and I know you're not going to give up, is the reporting you, Ross Morshon, I'll give credit to, wrote the article about Medicare payment reforms are long overdue. And this fun fact, a quote from the editorial board of the Washington Post, of the projected $ 138 trillion budget shortfall over the next 30 years, $ 109 trillion is from Medicare. $ 138, 000 trillion is the projected shortfall? $ 138, 000 billion is what they're projecting on the current trajectory? Have we gone bat crap insane? Has the train left the building, Dave? Because that's impossible. We can't continue to dig this hole.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: The insanity, Brian, is that No one's doing anything about it.
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Speaker 1: I know.
00:11:14
Speaker 2: The insanity is that Congress has their head in the sand. And listen, this is both Democrats and Republicans. Let's be clear that Democrats are calling for Medicare for all. That number that you just mentioned will be a lot more if we have Medicare for all. You know, the DSA wing of the Democratic Party wants to expand Medicare to a point where we don't even recognize it. And we need some common sense reform. We have to figure this out. With interest rates going up, the debt is going to go up. Interest on the debt is going to increase. And Medicare, Social Security, these are the drivers of the debt and of the deficit.
00:11:55
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 for all. It's almost the first. platform position they utter in any discussion on what they want to do with the country. Well, I was going to say Cato calculated the numbers and even just doing that one thing, aside from all the other things they want to do to destroy our country, we can't even afford that one thing on the trajectory we're on. It's just, it's trillions of dollars, even over a decade or something crazy like that.
00:12:37
Speaker 2: And healthcare isn't getting any better as a, you know, let's call this a business, right? the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, my healthcare costs go up every single year. We're not getting better coverage. We're just getting more expensive healthcare. And we're trying to keep pace with that. And we used to be able to cover 100 percent of people's health care. Now it's 80 percent because we just can't do it fiscally and financially. And, you know, we're trying to remain competitive with other groups. And it's just not happening, Brian. I mean, we spend a lot of money every year just on health care. And we always will because we will take care of our people. But it's getting more expensive and it's not getting better.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: Well, and, you know, the big elephant in the room on this discussion is we are not a very healthy society. And if we just took a little bit better care of ourselves and ate better food and maybe exercised a little bit in our own lives, we could avoid a lot of the problems that are associated with needing health care. I mean, I hate to state the obvious, but first 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 so many things, whether it's health care, whether it's fiscal, 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 an early break in this segment, almost out of time in the segment anyway. We'll talk about the Taxpayer Assistance and Services Act, which apparently needs to be improved, says the Taxpayer Protection Alliance. More with Dave Williams after a mention of really a great talk station. It's 728 at 55KRC, the talk station. Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance. Ben, it's I'm here with the 55 KC Morning Show audience and I appreciate him doing so and appreciate what Taxpayer Protection Alliance does for the American taxpayer each and every day. At least documented proof that you are well having your labor ripped off and wasted in massive fraud and abuse as well as just mismanaged programs. Talked about Medicare a moment ago. We're now we're going to dive into the TAS, the Taxpayer Assistance and Services Act. Um, Described as the most extensive overhaul of the Federal Tax Administration in years, and you're singing some praises for it over the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, Dave, but it apparently needs a few tweaks. Generally speaking, what does this do up front before tweaks, and what do we need to do to it to make it perfect?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, really, this is just updating the IRS to make refunds more accessible. Now, listen. I don't get a refund because I don't give the IRS too much money over the course of the year. I would rather pay a little bit in April just to make sure that they are not using my money.
00:15:06
Speaker 1: I know, time value money, the nearest to your benefit. You put it in the pocket. You know you could put it in an investment account, and that money you extra overpaid could earn interest at least. Yeah, don't give it to them. I sing that song every single year. I'd rather write a check than get one back.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and one of the provisions is really to put a shot clock on refund claims, right? Because right now, if you do a refund, they can take years and years until they decide to look at your claim. Well, the shot clock now is a year, 12 months. And I think a lot of what happens, Brian, is that people are afraid. People are afraid because the IRS wields so much power. Listen, the Pentagon spends $ 1 trillion today. to bomb places, but it doesn't have as much power as the IRS and as much fear that the IRS instills in people. And Listen, is this new legislation perfect? Absolutely not. But I think it's a step in the right direction. And we need to recognize that the IRS has to be more responsive and really more technologically savvy. We have systems in the IRS that are 50 years old, computer systems that are 50 years old. And there's been great strides. We've talked about this before, direct file. This was the idea of the IRS preparing your taxes, not just processing them, but preparing them. Luckily, when President Trump came in, they killed that program. That's amazing. Do you want the IRS preparing your taxes and deciding what your deductions are? Well, absolutely not.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: I imagine that there are accountant firm lobbying dollars that would hate that reality.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. And the fact of the matter is that the IRS is not going to be the one saying, oh, we really want to give you a big refund. Absolutely not. I mean, I want some nerdy accountant. You know, I'm picturing the visor and the glasses, you know, and that's how old I am. And, you know, determining what my refund or what I have to pay because he's looking out for me. The IRS ain't looking out for me. Shocker.
00:17:12
Speaker 1: No, not at all. And in fact, sometimes it can be weaponized to go after certain organizations and political ideologies. Remember Lois Lerner, right?
00:17:21
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. She she signed the TPA's letter back in 2011. And we so we were lucky, you know, because I guess we didn't have the word liberty or freedom. Right.
00:17:32
Speaker 1: In our name.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: But we were we were approved. And but she weaponized the whole place was weaponized in 2010, 2011.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this, Dave. Oh, and I have to observe a 50 year old system over the IRS. Obviously, we've moved beyond floppy drives, but that's the same kind of system they use over the FAA to keep us from crashing planes into each other. Thanks a lot. Talk about priorities. Anyway.
00:17:54
Speaker 2: And the amount of money that we spend when you fly the taxes, where's the modernization of the FAA? And it's just, it's frustrating because we're paying into this and we're getting nothing for it.
00:18:05
Speaker 1: No question about it. Hey, has the idea of, well, and my, my, my, I will call it a pipe dream as opposed to another kind of dream. But my, my, my ultimate dream would be to get rid of the entire IRS tax code and just throw it out in favor of something like a flannel flat tax. where you aren't incentivized to do anything. You just simply pay a flat amount, businesses, industry, individuals, whatever. And that used to be a concept that was widely discussed and embraced by many people, including me, or some concept like that, but no discussion anymore about it. Is that gone the way of the dodo, at least as a concept, or is there some glimmer of hope that I can hold on to?
00:18:42
Speaker 2: Sorry, no glimmer of hope. Listen, I love the flat taxed The problem is that any proposal for the flat tax doesn't dismantle the IRS. So if you have a flat tax, you're building upon the system that's already there and you have to dismantle the IRS. And whenever you talk about a flat tax, then you have the fair tax people calling up. So I think it's really, again, but we need to have these discussions. And listen, when I say there's no glimmer of hope, I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about it because this is something that needs to be discussed is how do we modernize Our tax system, when I say modernize, I don't mean make it more difficult. I mean, make it simpler and look at the flat tax and what that would mean for revenues.
00:19:23
Speaker 1: Well, what would it mean for revenues? Have those numbers been crunched? If you can't deduct, I mean, the left is always screaming about how, you know, big businesses don't pay anything. Those evil billionaires. Well, that's because the IRS has written the tax code. Our elected officials have written the tax code to provide them with the benefit of things to let them write off their taxes. It's not a loophole that they benefit from. And it's been intentionally written in there for that purpose. That's the stuff that pisses people off. And that seems to me it should be enjoying. widespread bipartisan support, but I guess lawmakers would be holding to all those businesses and industries that do whatever the hell they want so they wouldn't take away the tax breaks that are in there.
00:19:59
Speaker 2: The last time I saw any numbers that were run for the flat tax, I believe it was like 17% was the sweet spot. 4%. But that was a number of years ago. With the amount of spending we have today, that number is probably in the low 20s. But that's what we're talking about. We're talking about low 20s at this point would be the sweet spot to be able to do a flat tax. And again, your postcard, we talk about this, having submitted your taxes on a postcard. That was a big thing that Dick Army talked about. You probably remember this. Dick Army was a big proponent of the flat tax. That's what he wanted, is just you send in your your postcard, your taxes, and it's done.
00:20:39
Speaker 1: Well, and honestly, Dave, I'd even trust the IRS to figure out what 20% of my W-2 revenue is. Only take about a fraction of a second's time. You can't screw up. You just multiply it by, you know, 20%. You get the right figure. And you talk about having to eliminate the IRS. Well, it wouldn't be as a matter of course that you could eliminate the IRS simply as a matter of attrition, just let the people either retire or die off, and we won't replace the bodies that are there because they don't have anything left to do now that we've moved on and gotten a flat tax?
00:21:13
Speaker 2: Well, they tried that during Doge for a number of agencies, and it backfired, and it didn't work. So, I mean, listen, yes, in theory, that's how it happens. In practice– I'm very concerned that it would never happen that way. And yeah.
00:21:28
Speaker 1: So don't try it. That's what we get.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: It sounds good. Don't try it. But we have to, you know, we're not talking about it. That's a problem. Brian, I'm glad we're talking about it because no one else is right. No one in Congress is is talking about this.
00:21:43
Speaker 1: Well, you know, in this this furor in this fury, justifiably so. And I wish there was more of it over. The fraud, the waste, the abuse, the inefficiency of government, and every single dollar that's gone out the door and in the pocket of some fraudster is labor. I always like to express taxes in the form of labor. We are literally slaves for whatever percentage of the income they're taking us to the government. You must work for the government. You don't get anything from it. They take your money from you. Isn't that slavery, Dave?
00:22:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And you look at the waste, fraud and abuse, just improper payments and improper payments are not waste, fraud and or abuse. It's a whole different category. Two hundred billion dollars a year in improper payments. This is what the agencies are doing incorrectly. So no one is going in and saying and trying to defraud the government. That's a whole different category. Two hundred billion dollars every year. The General Accounting Office defrauds. identifies this, and they do nothing about it. There's maybe one hearing, and then they forget about it.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: Well, that sounds to me like a job for artificial intelligence, Dave. Right?
00:22:52
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of, yeah, absolutely. And actually, we've talked to some companies about this, and they have models where they can go in and use AI to look at government and improve government efficiency. And yet, here we are, we're afraid, and we want to put guardrails and You have Bernie Sanders saying that we want to get the FDA involved in AI. And it's just the Democrats are missing an opportunity here. And, of course, they always do, right? What do they say? Clutch defeat out of the jaws of victory?
00:23:24
Speaker 1: It's like the Cincinnati Bengals in most cases, yes. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
00:23:31
Speaker 2: Yeah. Except against Tampa Bay, which I was happy about. I'm glad they beat Tampa Bay.
00:23:35
Speaker 1: That was– Well, we can end on a smile. Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance, online again at protectingtaxpayers.org. Dave, I'll look forward to having a discussion with you soon and again on the 55KRC Morning Show. I always appreciate your time and your efforts throughout the year and when you're on here on the program.
00:23:52
Speaker 2: Thanks, Brian. Have a great weekend.
00:23:53
Speaker 1: You do the same. 738-55KRC, the talk station. Feel free to call.
Speaker 1: The Talk Station. There it is. 706 here, 55 KRC, The Talk Station. Regular listeners know. Coming up right now. Welcome back to the 55 KRC Morning Show. Mr. Streetcar himself, Dave Williams from the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, protectingtaxpayers.org. Dave, it's good to have you back on the show, man. Welcome.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: Thanks, Brian. And I got to tell you, if I ever make it into the major leagues... That's going to be my walk-up music.
00:00:30
Speaker 1: It should be.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: That will be, yeah.
00:00:32
Speaker 1: Well, you know, my morning show theme, I always open the morning show with Enema from Tool. And if you read the lyrics, you know exactly why that is my favorite song lyrically. And that's what I open up with. But what a perfect song for you, Dave.
00:00:44
Speaker 2: And you know what?
00:00:45
Speaker 1: Hey, our little loop streetcar that really takes you from point A to point B doesn't really effectively get people where they need to go, I guess, unless it's raining. It's free. It generated $ 1. 3 billion of revenue for the city of Cincinnati investment. Where do you think that figure came from, Dave?
00:01:03
Speaker 2: Oh, I can tell you, but you'd be fined by the FCC.
00:01:05
Speaker 1: Sphincter. The answer is sphincter. Everybody's got one. They pulled it out. Yeah, okay. Dave, we don't need to. Well, or the bubbling bong of stupidity. Either way, if you utter it, it must be true. Dave Williams, have you seen, I know it's going on all over this country, massive protests over golf courses and their water usage. That's a thing, isn't it? Oh, no, it isn't.
00:01:32
Speaker 2: No. You know, it's funny you bring this up because I have a friend who is a Republican, lives out in Virginia. He hates data centers, right? He just says they use too much water, yet he golfs three times a week. And he would probably drive over his own mother to build a new golf course. And I'm like, wait a second. You do know that there's a problem here with your logic. So, yes, it's interesting.
00:01:58
Speaker 1: And let's sprinkle a little AI overview of that data. I'm going to assume for the sake of discussion that this is accurate. I said, how much water does the average golf course use per year? Answer, 90 to 114 million gallons. which averages out to 312,000 gallons per day, which I think dwarfs any data center usage of water. And no one even considers the fact that, like the radiators in our car, closed-loop cooling systems are all the rage these days, so minimal water usage.
00:02:31
Speaker 2: So, Brian, we looked at the numbers, and we looked at the numbers in Ohio and a lot of other states. I think we're up to 40 states at this point that in Ohio— 0.6% of all water consumption is used by data centers. 0.6, less than 1% of water consumption in the state of Ohio is data centers. Those are the numbers. That's not spin. Those are numbers.
00:02:56
Speaker 1: So is the overall volume of water used by golf courses? And I'm quick to observe a lot of other industries and businesses use a lot of water. They all seem to be immune from criticism by protesters. This has nothing to do with water. This has everything to do with people's concern over AI just generally.
00:03:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And listen, I know people are afraid of AI, but AI is happening and it's going to be more a part of our lives in the coming years. And do we want it developed here or do we want it developed abroad? We want it here. We want to get the economic benefit. Virginia, the state of Virginia has seen massive economic boom. I mean, they have reduced property taxes and in certain counties in Virginia because of data centers. Data centers are writing checks, dividend checks, a real dividend check, not the fake dividend check coming from the federal government, but a real dividend check coming from companies to the citizens. They're building infrastructure, not data centers. They're building aquatic centers. They're building all sorts of infrastructure in these counties. People are getting rich off of these data centers. That's great. This is what this country should be. This is infrastructure. This is amazing. And people are protesting them.
00:04:07
Speaker 1: Yes, they are. Now, power demand may be one thing you might want to worry about, but the biggest impediment to power generation, reliable power generation, is everybody on the left-hand side of the political ledger and anybody else who believes that exhalation is killing the planet. I mean... If data centers were free to bring their own electricity, I know it's theoretically possible because we do have small modular reactors that are a real thing that exist right now. If we got ourselves out of our own way, we might be able to have that, and we'd all have cheap, inexpensive, small footprint, low water use, no waste electricity. Right, Dave?
00:04:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. And listen, technology brings more efficiencies. Look at the automobile and the mileage we're getting out of automobiles. The same thing is going to happen with data centers and whether they're using water or electricity, it's going to become more efficient. And they should be allowed to build these small modular nuclear reactors. They should use all energy sources that they can. And a lot of times it's permitting. It's county, it's state permitting that gets in the way of the development of this. So the state says you're losing using all this electricity. Well, give us the opportunity to use our own electricity. So the state gets in the way.
00:05:22
Speaker 1: So where do you see this thing shaking out, Dave Williams, if you had to tea leaf read? So I think because we've got to throw in the reality that we're dealing with right now, that out of nowhere came this, oh, my God, we're all going to die. AI is going to kill us so that this is this a false flag kind of thing going on? Because right in front of the November election, we got all the Democrats come up and say, no, we need to put the brakes on AI. Look what they say it can do. And as soon as Barack Obama sticks his head up and is joining the chorus of that side, I know there is something nefarious going on here that has nothing to do with us dying.
00:05:56
Speaker 2: Well, if you want to kill a technology and a good idea, give it to Congress. Have Congress do something about it. And listen, I think with data centers, there's going to be the haves and the have-nots. The areas that don't have the moratorium, they're going to see the building of these data centers. They're going to see the economic benefits of these data centers. The have-nots are the ones that that they think the sky is falling and they're gonna look to their neighbor and go, whoa, why didn't we do that? Why do we have a moratorium? And they're gonna try to catch up to them. And we've interviewed property owners a few months ago, actually last month, we interviewed property owners in Virginia that were not allowed sell their own property. They approached a data center and said, we want to sell you our property so you can build here. The county and the state said, no. You had these greeny nonprofits coming in and saying, you can't sell your own property. What kind of country do we live in? When a property owner who has owned this property for 80, 100 years and said, listen, farming doesn't make us money anymore. We want to sell the property to a data center. No, you can't. You don't have control over your own property.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: This is like a two-fold thing here. The property owner has the right to alienate the property, has an absolute right to sell the property. It is a thing that they are entitled to by virtue of ownership to sell. Just because you sell it to Chad GPT's owner or something, that doesn't mean it's necessarily going to result in a data center where your property is. They have to deal with the challenges, the regulatory issues and everything else that's standing in the way of them building a data center. But acquisition of land, that should not factor into the equation because they're not creating a data center by the sale of land.
00:07:40
Speaker 2: And these same property owners that the state came in and said, we're putting up these huge transmission lines in your backyard. Nothing you can do about it. So we are going to tell you what to do with your property and what you can't do. And this is not the country that I was.
00:07:54
Speaker 1: Born in, man. No, but this is the kind of thing that DSA platform and the advocates for the government control will absolutely bring you in all facets and areas of your life. Look, Dave, I just got done with the terror. Listen, I I recognize the 55K Racing Morning Show traditionally perceived to be an AM radio station. Terrestrially speaking, you've got to have an AM radio. I am against Congress telling automobile manufacturers that they must put an AM radio in their car. They're telling manufacturers what to do, and I stand against that just as a concept, Dave. Where's the TPA on that one?
00:08:28
Speaker 2: This is so bizarre because we have so many problems in this country, fiscal problems. We have a president that wants to spend $ 1. 2 trillion on stimulus, dividend, whatever you want to call it. Not dividend because the government doesn't make any money. But he wants to spend $ 1. 2 trillion on these checks. What does Congress take up? AM radio in cars. NCAA sports. What the NCAA can do with sports. What? Are these really the priorities? And then Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, adjourns early and leaves Washington yesterday so they can go home and try to convince people they're doing a good job. That's why he left, is he wants Republicans to go home to campaign and say, reelect me because I've done so much.
00:09:16
Speaker 1: What?
00:09:16
Speaker 2: I mean, the priorities are completely out of whack. AM radio and cars, that is not a priority for Congress at all.
00:09:24
Speaker 1: And again, it's The means of production. Capitalist demands serve demands of the people. And if the people want AM radios, then they're going to damn well put a radio in the car. Don't buy a BMW if you don't like the fact it doesn't have an AM radio in it. Anyway, Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance. Find them online at protectingtaxpayers.org. We've got a whole lot more to talk about beyond data centers, including Medicare payment reforms. They say long overdue, the TPA does. Don't go away. Be right back. 720 here, 55KRCD Talk Station. Dave Williams. It's been a long time since we had Dave on the program. He's with Taxpayer Protection Alliance, which you should follow. online. Bookmark the site, protectingtaxpayers.org. You ever get to the point where you think you're just going to give up, Dave?
00:10:10
Speaker 2: Yes and no. I mean, there are times where I just like, you know, but then the D.C. streetcar goes away. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, there is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel when it's not the streetcar coming to hit me.
00:10:24
Speaker 1: Well, you know, the predicate for me asking that question, and I know you're not going to give up, is the reporting you, Ross Morshon, I'll give credit to, wrote the article about Medicare payment reforms are long overdue. And this fun fact, a quote from the editorial board of the Washington Post, of the projected $ 138 trillion budget shortfall over the next 30 years, $ 109 trillion is from Medicare. $ 138, 000 trillion is the projected shortfall? $ 138, 000 billion is what they're projecting on the current trajectory? Have we gone bat crap insane? Has the train left the building, Dave? Because that's impossible. We can't continue to dig this hole.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: The insanity, Brian, is that No one's doing anything about it.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: I know.
00:11:14
Speaker 2: The insanity is that Congress has their head in the sand. And listen, this is both Democrats and Republicans. Let's be clear that Democrats are calling for Medicare for all. That number that you just mentioned will be a lot more if we have Medicare for all. You know, the DSA wing of the Democratic Party wants to expand Medicare to a point where we don't even recognize it. And we need some common sense reform. We have to figure this out. With interest rates going up, the debt is going to go up. Interest on the debt is going to increase. And Medicare, Social Security, these are the drivers of the debt and of the deficit.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: Well, Dave, the answer then is we need Medicare for all.
00:12:04
Speaker 2: Medicare for all money.
00:12:07
Speaker 1: This is the key to the Democrats' platforms is Medicare for all. It's almost the first. platform position they utter in any discussion on what they want to do with the country. Well, I was going to say Cato calculated the numbers and even just doing that one thing, aside from all the other things they want to do to destroy our country, we can't even afford that one thing on the trajectory we're on. It's just, it's trillions of dollars, even over a decade or something crazy like that.
00:12:37
Speaker 2: And healthcare isn't getting any better as a, you know, let's call this a business, right? the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, my healthcare costs go up every single year. We're not getting better coverage. We're just getting more expensive healthcare. And we're trying to keep pace with that. And we used to be able to cover 100 percent of people's health care. Now it's 80 percent because we just can't do it fiscally and financially. And, you know, we're trying to remain competitive with other groups. And it's just not happening, Brian. I mean, we spend a lot of money every year just on health care. And we always will because we will take care of our people. But it's getting more expensive and it's not getting better.
00:13:16
Speaker 1: Well, and, you know, the big elephant in the room on this discussion is we are not a very healthy society. And if we just took a little bit better care of ourselves and ate better food and maybe exercised a little bit in our own lives, we could avoid a lot of the problems that are associated with needing health care. I mean, I hate to state the obvious, but first line of defense is man looking at the mirror.
00:13:37
Speaker 2: Personal responsibility goes a long way. A long way in so many things, whether it's health care, whether it's fiscal, personal responsibility, it goes a long way.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: It sure does. Well, I'll tell you what, we'll take an early break in this segment, almost out of time in the segment anyway. We'll talk about the Taxpayer Assistance and Services Act, which apparently needs to be improved, says the Taxpayer Protection Alliance. More with Dave Williams after a mention of really a great talk station. It's 728 at 55KRC, the talk station. Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance. Ben, it's I'm here with the 55 KC Morning Show audience and I appreciate him doing so and appreciate what Taxpayer Protection Alliance does for the American taxpayer each and every day. At least documented proof that you are well having your labor ripped off and wasted in massive fraud and abuse as well as just mismanaged programs. Talked about Medicare a moment ago. We're now we're going to dive into the TAS, the Taxpayer Assistance and Services Act. Um, Described as the most extensive overhaul of the Federal Tax Administration in years, and you're singing some praises for it over the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, Dave, but it apparently needs a few tweaks. Generally speaking, what does this do up front before tweaks, and what do we need to do to it to make it perfect?
00:14:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, really, this is just updating the IRS to make refunds more accessible. Now, listen. I don't get a refund because I don't give the IRS too much money over the course of the year. I would rather pay a little bit in April just to make sure that they are not using my money.
00:15:06
Speaker 1: I know, time value money, the nearest to your benefit. You put it in the pocket. You know you could put it in an investment account, and that money you extra overpaid could earn interest at least. Yeah, don't give it to them. I sing that song every single year. I'd rather write a check than get one back.
00:15:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, and one of the provisions is really to put a shot clock on refund claims, right? Because right now, if you do a refund, they can take years and years until they decide to look at your claim. Well, the shot clock now is a year, 12 months. And I think a lot of what happens, Brian, is that people are afraid. People are afraid because the IRS wields so much power. Listen, the Pentagon spends $ 1 trillion today. to bomb places, but it doesn't have as much power as the IRS and as much fear that the IRS instills in people. And Listen, is this new legislation perfect? Absolutely not. But I think it's a step in the right direction. And we need to recognize that the IRS has to be more responsive and really more technologically savvy. We have systems in the IRS that are 50 years old, computer systems that are 50 years old. And there's been great strides. We've talked about this before, direct file. This was the idea of the IRS preparing your taxes, not just processing them, but preparing them. Luckily, when President Trump came in, they killed that program. That's amazing. Do you want the IRS preparing your taxes and deciding what your deductions are? Well, absolutely not.
00:16:41
Speaker 1: I imagine that there are accountant firm lobbying dollars that would hate that reality.
00:16:48
Speaker 2: Yeah. And the fact of the matter is that the IRS is not going to be the one saying, oh, we really want to give you a big refund. Absolutely not. I mean, I want some nerdy accountant. You know, I'm picturing the visor and the glasses, you know, and that's how old I am. And, you know, determining what my refund or what I have to pay because he's looking out for me. The IRS ain't looking out for me. Shocker.
00:17:12
Speaker 1: No, not at all. And in fact, sometimes it can be weaponized to go after certain organizations and political ideologies. Remember Lois Lerner, right?
00:17:21
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. She she signed the TPA's letter back in 2011. And we so we were lucky, you know, because I guess we didn't have the word liberty or freedom. Right.
00:17:32
Speaker 1: In our name.
00:17:33
Speaker 2: But we were we were approved. And but she weaponized the whole place was weaponized in 2010, 2011.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: Well, let me ask you this, Dave. Oh, and I have to observe a 50 year old system over the IRS. Obviously, we've moved beyond floppy drives, but that's the same kind of system they use over the FAA to keep us from crashing planes into each other. Thanks a lot. Talk about priorities. Anyway.
00:17:54
Speaker 2: And the amount of money that we spend when you fly the taxes, where's the modernization of the FAA? And it's just, it's frustrating because we're paying into this and we're getting nothing for it.
00:18:05
Speaker 1: No question about it. Hey, has the idea of, well, and my, my, my, I will call it a pipe dream as opposed to another kind of dream. But my, my, my ultimate dream would be to get rid of the entire IRS tax code and just throw it out in favor of something like a flannel flat tax. where you aren't incentivized to do anything. You just simply pay a flat amount, businesses, industry, individuals, whatever. And that used to be a concept that was widely discussed and embraced by many people, including me, or some concept like that, but no discussion anymore about it. Is that gone the way of the dodo, at least as a concept, or is there some glimmer of hope that I can hold on to?
00:18:42
Speaker 2: Sorry, no glimmer of hope. Listen, I love the flat taxed The problem is that any proposal for the flat tax doesn't dismantle the IRS. So if you have a flat tax, you're building upon the system that's already there and you have to dismantle the IRS. And whenever you talk about a flat tax, then you have the fair tax people calling up. So I think it's really, again, but we need to have these discussions. And listen, when I say there's no glimmer of hope, I'm not saying we shouldn't talk about it because this is something that needs to be discussed is how do we modernize Our tax system, when I say modernize, I don't mean make it more difficult. I mean, make it simpler and look at the flat tax and what that would mean for revenues.
00:19:23
Speaker 1: Well, what would it mean for revenues? Have those numbers been crunched? If you can't deduct, I mean, the left is always screaming about how, you know, big businesses don't pay anything. Those evil billionaires. Well, that's because the IRS has written the tax code. Our elected officials have written the tax code to provide them with the benefit of things to let them write off their taxes. It's not a loophole that they benefit from. And it's been intentionally written in there for that purpose. That's the stuff that pisses people off. And that seems to me it should be enjoying. widespread bipartisan support, but I guess lawmakers would be holding to all those businesses and industries that do whatever the hell they want so they wouldn't take away the tax breaks that are in there.
00:19:59
Speaker 2: The last time I saw any numbers that were run for the flat tax, I believe it was like 17% was the sweet spot. 4%. But that was a number of years ago. With the amount of spending we have today, that number is probably in the low 20s. But that's what we're talking about. We're talking about low 20s at this point would be the sweet spot to be able to do a flat tax. And again, your postcard, we talk about this, having submitted your taxes on a postcard. That was a big thing that Dick Army talked about. You probably remember this. Dick Army was a big proponent of the flat tax. That's what he wanted, is just you send in your your postcard, your taxes, and it's done.
00:20:39
Speaker 1: Well, and honestly, Dave, I'd even trust the IRS to figure out what 20% of my W-2 revenue is. Only take about a fraction of a second's time. You can't screw up. You just multiply it by, you know, 20%. You get the right figure. And you talk about having to eliminate the IRS. Well, it wouldn't be as a matter of course that you could eliminate the IRS simply as a matter of attrition, just let the people either retire or die off, and we won't replace the bodies that are there because they don't have anything left to do now that we've moved on and gotten a flat tax?
00:21:13
Speaker 2: Well, they tried that during Doge for a number of agencies, and it backfired, and it didn't work. So, I mean, listen, yes, in theory, that's how it happens. In practice– I'm very concerned that it would never happen that way. And yeah.
00:21:28
Speaker 1: So don't try it. That's what we get.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: It sounds good. Don't try it. But we have to, you know, we're not talking about it. That's a problem. Brian, I'm glad we're talking about it because no one else is right. No one in Congress is is talking about this.
00:21:43
Speaker 1: Well, you know, in this this furor in this fury, justifiably so. And I wish there was more of it over. The fraud, the waste, the abuse, the inefficiency of government, and every single dollar that's gone out the door and in the pocket of some fraudster is labor. I always like to express taxes in the form of labor. We are literally slaves for whatever percentage of the income they're taking us to the government. You must work for the government. You don't get anything from it. They take your money from you. Isn't that slavery, Dave?
00:22:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And you look at the waste, fraud and abuse, just improper payments and improper payments are not waste, fraud and or abuse. It's a whole different category. Two hundred billion dollars a year in improper payments. This is what the agencies are doing incorrectly. So no one is going in and saying and trying to defraud the government. That's a whole different category. Two hundred billion dollars every year. The General Accounting Office defrauds. identifies this, and they do nothing about it. There's maybe one hearing, and then they forget about it.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: Well, that sounds to me like a job for artificial intelligence, Dave. Right?
00:22:52
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot of, yeah, absolutely. And actually, we've talked to some companies about this, and they have models where they can go in and use AI to look at government and improve government efficiency. And yet, here we are, we're afraid, and we want to put guardrails and You have Bernie Sanders saying that we want to get the FDA involved in AI. And it's just the Democrats are missing an opportunity here. And, of course, they always do, right? What do they say? Clutch defeat out of the jaws of victory?
00:23:24
Speaker 1: It's like the Cincinnati Bengals in most cases, yes. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
00:23:31
Speaker 2: Yeah. Except against Tampa Bay, which I was happy about. I'm glad they beat Tampa Bay.
00:23:35
Speaker 1: That was– Well, we can end on a smile. Dave Williams, Taxpayer Protection Alliance, online again at protectingtaxpayers.org. Dave, I'll look forward to having a discussion with you soon and again on the 55KRC Morning Show. I always appreciate your time and your efforts throughout the year and when you're on here on the program.
00:23:52
Speaker 2: Thanks, Brian. Have a great weekend.
00:23:53
Speaker 1: You do the same. 738-55KRC, the talk station. Feel free to call.
