Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter dated July 11, 2011 to Cliff Guffey, the President of the American Postal Workers Union, requesting that the union cancel what Issa says is a misleading ad campaign.
Issa’s letter says that the ad campaign falsely claims that the Postal Service doesn’t receive taxpayer support when in fact it receives hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money in the form of tax benefits. He was requesting that the union not mislead the American people on these facts surrounding the Postal Service.
“It is true that the Postal Service no longer receives an annual subsidy for basic operations from the federal government…but the Postal Service does receive support from American taxpayers,” Issa said. “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. Additionally, the Postal Service has eminent domain to secure property, a valuable power private sector companies lack. Finally, because it can borrow through the U.S. Treasury, the Postal service is able to borrow at very low interest rates.”
Issa went on to say that these benefits and extra powers add up to several hundred million dollars of taxpayer subsidized benefits annually.