The bigger the government the more inefficient it becomes
The administrative state can't do math. How else can this report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) be explained ?
Since 2003 the government has shelled out a staggering $2.7 TRILLION in "improper payments " ....... $236 Billion alone last year.
3/4 of the improper payments were over payments
Quote:
Our analysis of agency data shows that 14 agencies reported improper payment estimates across 71 programs. As shown in figure 2, about 79 percent ($186 billion) of the government-wide total of estimated improper payments that agencies reported for fiscal year 2023 is concentrated in five program areas:• HHS’s Medicare, comprising three programs ($51 billion);2• HHS’s Medicaid ($50 billion);• the Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance - Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance ($44 billion); • the Department of the Treasury’s Earned Income Tax Credit ($22 billion); and• the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness ($19 billion
GAO-24-106927, Improper Payments: Information on Agencies’ Fiscal Year 2023 Estimates
This is an underestimate because not all of the leviathan state agencies report improper payments.
Quote:
The estimate doesn't include the Department of Health and Human Services' Temporary Assistance for Needy Families "a program that is susceptible to significant improper payments," according to the report. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program gave states about $16.5 billion in 2022 to fund monthly cash assistance payments to low-income families with children and a range of other services.
Feds made $236 billion in improper payments last year | National | thecentersquare.com
Improper payments—those that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount—have consistently been a government-wide issue.
Improper Payments: Information on Agencies' Fiscal Year 2023 Estimates | U.S. GAO
Unknown is how much additional $$$$$$ gets squandered through waste, fraud and abuse.
