We don't spend your tax dollars!
April 15, otherwise known as “Tax Day,” is almost here. While you probably don’t feel like celebrating this particular date on the calendar, we hope you will take some small comfort in the fact that the Postal Service delivers your tax dollars, it does NOT spend them.
Your Postal Service operates on the sale of its products and services. The only government funds we get are reimbursements by congress to provide free mail service for the blind and to keep certain postage rates below cost for nonprofit organizations.
More than 30 years ago, Congress and the President transformed the two-centuries-old Post Office Department into the U.S. Postal Service, a new organization with a new mandate: to operate on a break-even basis, without taxpayer subsidies. Today, postage pays its way, funding the mail service you count on.
With current service six days a week, rain or shine, being provided to more than 144 million addresses, that’s more than 1 billion miles of service each year. Recently, the Postal Service has requested the Postal Regulatory Commission to consider a five-day delivery week. Delivery of mail would be discontinued on Saturdays; Post Offices would remain open to provide retail services.
The target date is currently set for the beginning of the federal fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1; however, this has not been approved yet. We will hear more about this in the near future.
So remember, when you finish filling out your forms this year and make your payment to the United State Treasury, keeping in mind the Postal Service will be there to deliver your tax dollars, not spend them.
Lita Kitson, Cambridge Postmaster
