Via FOX News:
More than $98 billion in taxpayer dollars spent by government agencies was wasted, much of it on questionable claims for tax credits and Medicare benefits, representing an increase of $26 billion from the previous year.
In all, about 5 percent of spending in federal programs in fiscal year 2009 was improper, according to new details of a government financial report that were released Tuesday. Saying the overall error rate was similar in 2008, officials attributed the $26 billion jump to some changes in how to define improper spending as well as an increase in overall spending due to the recession.
“We need to protect taxpayer dollars,” Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters. “Every dollar that goes to the wrong recipient or in the wrong amount is a dollar not available to help an unemployed worker, or to invest in education or key priorities of the administration.”
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who chairs a Senate panel on federal financial management, said he worried that the latest numbers “may still be just the tip of the iceberg” since they don’t include estimates for several programs such as the Medicare prescription drug plan.
“It goes without saying that these results would be completely unacceptable in the private sector, as they should be in government, especially at a time of record deficits,” Carper said.
And yet this is the same government that is demanding that they forcefully take complete control of all your healthcare decisions and benefits.
taxpayer, tax credit, Medicare, federal program, tax
