The black hole where tax dollars go

This isn't new, but this article details some what was to be paid for with the lost funds.

A new report says the Pentagon's finances are in disarray

By Drew Brown

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department's accounting practices are in such disarray that defense officials can't track how much equipment the military owns, where it all is or exactly how they spend defense dollars every year, according to a report Thursday by a nongovernmental group. . .

In reports to Congress in recent years, the GAO found:

• 94 percent of Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers experienced pay problems in 2004.
• $100 million that could be collected annually from defense contractors who underpaid federal taxes. The federal government had collected less than 1 percent of that - less than $700,000.
• $1.2 billion in Army supplies shipped to Iraq that couldn't be accounted for. As a result, military units ended up short on "tires, tank tracks, helicopter spare parts, radio batteries and other basic items."
• $35 billion worth of excess supplies and equipment, plus an inability to track the movement of supplies.
• $100 million in airline tickets that were never used.