Uncle Sam Improperly Doles Out $100 Billion

Fox News: 'Staggering': Government making $100B in improper payments every year:

The U.S. government is making roughly $100 billion in improper payments every year thanks to a combination of fraud, clerical errors and insufficient IRS enforcement, according to testimony at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

“The amounts here are absolutely staggering,” Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said.

The problem of erroneous payments – largely from Medicare and other health care programs – is not a new one. But Mica said at the hearing of a House oversight subcommittee that federal agencies reported over $100 billion in improper payments during each of the last five years.

That’s roughly what the Obama administration spent on the Afghanistan war and other security operations last year.

“That’s an incredible amount of money that has been misappropriated, mis-paid,” Mica said.

The money is coming from an array of agencies, and includes tax credits to families that didn't qualify, unemployment benefits to people who had jobs and medical payments for treatments that might not have been necessary...

Related:  Citizens for Tax Justice (They're totally serious): Addressing the Need for More Federal Revenue :

America is undertaxed, and the result is underfunding of public investments that would improve our economy and the overall welfare of Americans. Fortunately, Congress has several straightforward policy options to raise revenue, mostly by closing or limiting loopholes and special subsidies imbedded in the tax code that benefit wealthy individuals and profitable businesses...