You Can’t Spell Insurance Without I-R-S…
Today the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report that provided another clear reminder of how Obamacare delegates vast new powers to the Internal Revenue Service. According to the report, Obamacare represents “the largest set of tax law changes in 20 years,” with 42 separate provisions adding to or amending the Internal Revenue Code, 8 of which require IRS to implement whole new processes. The result has been an increase in federal bureaucracy, with the IRS authorized to hire hundreds of new employees, and 368 employees focused solely on Obamacare’s new IT requirements and their impact on tax administration.
Unfortunately, another report released last week by the same Treasury inspector general raised serious questions about the IRS’ ability to implement all these new Obamacare provisions effectively. As the Washington Post noted, “as many as 2.1 million taxpayers erroneously” – and/or fraudulently – “claimed a total of $3.2 billion” in taxpayer funding for educational credits created by the “stimulus.” The fact that prisoners and other ineligible individuals were able to obtain education credits does not raise confidence about IRS’ ability to ensure that Obamacare’s insurance subsidies will not be subject to abuse. In other words, despite the increased spending on administration and new IRS bureaucrats, billions of taxpayer dollars in Obamacare subsidies could be utilized for purposes other than their intended use.