EITC: Another ‘anti-poverty’ program defrauding taxpayers of $12.6 billion

Graphic on improper EITC payments from Payment Accuracy, U.S. Government site.‘Anti-poverty’ is the battle cry of many a Democrat, but their class warfare policy aimed at taking from those who earn to give to those who don’t or who earn less is not working out well.

For one thing, even National Public Radio admitted that U.S. household incomes have declined.

For another, a major initiative called the Earned Income Tax Credit has burned $12.6 billion dollars through what the federal bureaucracy calls “improper payments.” The processing of that credit carries a whopping 22.7 percent “improper payment rate.”

In the private sector, if you wasted almost a quarter of your employer’s money, you’d be fired and maybe even sent to jail.

Not in Federal Utopia.

Don’t expect legacy media to tune you into the fact the government bureaucrats can’t run the government.

NPR noted in a September, 2012 article that poverty rose again, but data hinted the economy may have “found its feet.” What, exactly, does that mean?

Go to the grocery. Food is higher. Pump gas into your tank. Gas is higher. Pay your electric bill—that’s higher too. Taxes? Hiked on every single U.S. worker, courtesy of President Barack Obama who first gave you a payroll tax break and then took it away as he promised to not hike taxes on anyone but “the wealthy.” While we’re at it, count on your healthcare costs going up—that’s the point of the ObamaCare Tax Bill.

At the end of the article, NPR (finally) confessed:

"Real median household income in the United States fell between the 2010 ACS and the 2011 ACS, decreasing by 1.3 percent from $51,144 to $50,502," the Census reports.

As for the EITC, the bureaucrats have set new goals to “reduce…noncompliance.” The target rate set by the government: 23-28 percent—higher than the current rate. That’s an improvement only in the fictional world politicians live in.

The Dept. of the Treasury pinpointed the problem with the EITC: “EITC beneficiary claims are not pre-certified for eligibility as in other traditional benefit programs.”

A sizable percentage of the U.S. deficit is the result of fraud.

Anyone who says this economy is “finding its feet” is a certifiable lunatic.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Feb. 1, 2013)

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