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1 Michael Schuyler, Troubles at the Postal Service 1 (2015)

handle is hein.taxfoundation/trbposv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FOUNDATION FISCAL FACT Sept. 2015 No. 481 The Tax Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, non-profit research institution founded in 1937 to educate the public on tax policy. Based in Washington, D.C. our economic and policy analysis is guided by the principles of sound tax policy: simplicity, neutrality, transparency, and stability. (02015 Tax Foundation Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY NC 4.0 Editor, Melodie Bowler Designer, Dan Carvajal Tax Foundation 1325 G Street, NW, Suite 950 Washington, DC 20005 202.464.6200 Troubles at the Postal Service By Michael Schuyler Senior Fellow Key Findings * Americans rate the U.S. Postal Service more highly than most other federal agencies. Nevertheless, the Postal Service has serious problems. Although the agency's leadership has engineered a skillful and responsible downsizing, the government-owned enterprise continues losing billions of dollars yearly. Between 2007 and 2014, the Service lost $51.7 billion. For the last three years, the Service has failed to make legally required payments to the U.S. Treasury. The Service indicates it will again default on the statutory obligations, which are for the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund, in 2015 and 2016. Even though the Service relaxed on-time delivery standards for First-Class and Periodical Mail at the start of 2015, the percentage of mail arriving late has increased dramatically this year. As the Service launches new initiatives in the areas of shipping and packages, there are concerns about whether the Postal Service is losing its focus on what, for public policy reasons and by statute, should be its number one priority: speedy and reliable letter mail delivery. As the Postal Service struggles financially, service reductions have been felt most acutely in rural communities, which are often highly dependent on mail service. If Congress decides to intervene, however, it should be mindful of the Service's precarious finances and not impose expensive new unfunded mandates. taxfoundation org

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