EDITORIAL: Taxpayers need a chief financial officer

Readers might consider themselves Republicans, Democrats or Independents, but all American taxpayers played a big role last week in paying to shore up mortgage giants and other large firms. Printing more money or borrowing more money to pay for these moves diminishes the country’s credit rating or transfers wealth to other countries willing to borrow money to the U.S.

Government intervention might have been necessary last week, but these disturbing developments tell us it is time to reform government. Taxpayers need a chief financial officer working for them and reporting directly to them, not to the president, Congress or Wall Street.

It is too bad the current presidential candidates don’t offer the kind of economic savvy and creativity we really need. But, they are politicians trying to get your vote. For decades, they’ve promised more programs or fewer taxes to buy votes.

The problem with more costly programs or less taxes are the same. If implemented, each compounds the problem.

Americans want accountability
The Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan think tank, released a new study yesterday that reveals that taxpayers “are willing to make sacrifices — in the form of spending cuts and tax increases — to address the federal fiscal imbalances, yet would do so only if they see greater government accountability.”

The problem is mistrust. The Concord Coalition along with Public Agenda, the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation spent two years asking taxpayers questions. It found, “in dialogue after dialogue across the country … the main obstacle to building public support for difficult choices we face is not public opposition to tax increases or program cuts, nor is it lack of interest. The main obstacle is a deeply felt and pervasive mistrust of government.”

We agree. Taxpayers need an ombudsman giving quarterly reports or scorecards of how our government is performing. Taxpayers need a nonpartisan truth squad.