As the old saying goes…a penny saved is a penny earned.

But, to coin a phrase, did you know a penny made is two cents paid? That’s right, it costs taxpayers nearly TWO cents to produce ONE penny! And a nickel costs about seven cents.

Our federal government spends nearly $69 million of your hard-earned money making pennies and another $21 million for nickels. 

This makes no “cents!”

 
Click here or on the image above to watch a Squeal TV episode on the CENTS Act.

Taxpayers are being nickeled-and-dimed by the increasing costs of copper, zinc, and other metals because the U.S. Mint is required by law—something Congress could change—to use these types of metals to produce coins.

Now, fortunately, the metal composition of pennies has been changed to reduce costs. But the Mint does not have the authority to change other coins.

We need to fix that—and that’s what I’m working to do with my Currency Evolution Now To Save (CENTS) Act.

The CENTS Act would allow the Mint to modify the composition of nickel, dime, quarter, and half dollar coins—without changing the size or functionality—and help reduce the cost to taxpayers.

After my CENTS-ible fix, taxpayers would be keeping more than $150 million over 10 years. That’s a whole lot of spare change for your piggy bank.

There wouldn’t be any difference in the weight or appearance of the coins.  They would still function the same way in vending machines, for example. While they still wouldn’t cost a dime a dozen to make, altering the composition would be less expensive for taxpayers.

June Squeal Award: Congress

Congress should have made this change a long time ago. For this reason, I am awarding my June Squeal Award to Congress for failing to change the outdated law that dictates the composition of coins, causing you, the taxpayer, to lose millions of dollars.

My two cents is that Congress should get off the dime and pass the CENTS Act.

For taxpayers, this is just common “cents!”

Do you have an example of government waste or inefficiencies that I should take a look at? Send me an email by clicking here.

Thank you!