PEN Note: The article below comes directly from Rep. Issa’s website. You may view the APWU ad by clicking here.
WASHINGTON- Congressman Darrell Issa in a letter today to the American Postal Worker Union (APWU) asks the union to cancel a misleading ad campaign that falsely claims the United States Postal Service (USPS) does not receive taxpayer support when it does, in fact, receive hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money through preferential tax treatment and other benefits.
“A December 2007 report from the Federal Trade Commission includes a long list of implicit subsidies the Postal Service receives that are not available to private companies,” said Issa in the letter to APWU President Cliff Guffey. The letter notes that “the Postal Service is exempt from, among other items, federal, state, and local income tax, all state and local taxes (including property tax), and vehicle registration and titling fees.”
The letter also notes that USPS has access to borrowing directly from the United States Treasury at very low rates. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2010, the Postal Service had $4.1 billion in debt with an interest rate below 0.3% as well as an additional short-term revolving credit line of $3.4 billion at an interest rate of 0.206%.
Noting that these subsidies are worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, Issa asked the union not to mislead the American people.
“While you and I have significant differences of opinion on how the Postal Service should be reformed, I believe we must be clear about the underlying facts. I ask you not to engage in a campaign to mislead the American people.”
Issa, the author of the only legislation introduced this Congress which would return the Postal Service to solvency, has also called on the Postal Service and their allies to recognize that the decline in revenue is permanent, driven by the transition to electronic, paperless technology and not temporarily by the recession. Issa debunked these myths and others in a “Myth vs. Fact” paper published last week.
Click here for a copy of Issa’s letter to APWU.
You may view the APWU ad by clicking here.
This is political doublespeak at it’s best. Being exempt from property taxes, vehicle registration fees, and a low interest rate when ‘borrowing’ money is NOT a tax subsidy. The truth is, not a single dime of the taxes an American tax payer pays go to the USPS.
By the way, do you know who else doesn’t pay property taxes? Every Church in America. As per the constitution, it is illegal to give churches taxpayer money, but under Issa’s definition of a tax subsidy, it would appear the US is doing just that. Hmmm. Why don’t you have a problem with that Mr. Issa?
[…] Issa Asks APWU to Stop Misleading Ads | Postal Employee Network. […]