Why pay taxes when a lot of your hard-earned cash goes to fraudsters as an alternative of doing good?
Authorities bureaucrats and elected politicians, largely Democrats, scream in outrage when any effort is made to crack down on fraud by requiring proof of the place the cash is definitely going. They wring their fingers that safeguards will delay the funds and warn of kids going hungry or households in want.
In the meantime, all of us taxpayers, saddled with paying for the scammers, are routinely ignored.
Till now. The enormity of the Minneapolis welfare rip-off is sparking a nationwide rebel in opposition to welfare criminals and the politicians who tolerate them. The Minneapolis fraud epidemic, which has gone on since 2014, robbed taxpayers of a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} presupposed to assist backed day care, autism providers and “Feeding our Future” meals for poor.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been pressured to surrender his bid for reelection. However extra vital, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul are on the recent seat to elucidate the even greater taxpayer rip-offs they’ve allowed to go on of their states.
And extra state politicians can be feeling the warmth. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says a nauseating 10% of the federal finances is spent on fraud. Some politicians profit straight, however many extra are too cowardly to name it out, fearing accusations of racism or cruelty to the poor.
To date, fraud-friendly Govs. Hochul and Newsom have provided solely bluster and a lawsuit in opposition to the Trump administration for attempting to rout out the dishonest.
On Dec. 30, the Trump administration introduced that in view of the Minnesota fraud scandal, all states must present enrollment and attendance knowledge, a receipt for expenditures or different photographic proof earlier than getting federal funds to assist little one care applications. The administration calls it the “Defend the Spend” program.
Many states complied immediately. Missouri, for instance, introduced it supplied “detailed justification” for funds to cowl 2,000 little one care suppliers within the state.
However deep-blue states resisted. On Jan. 6, the Trump administration froze little one care and household money help to 5 states: New York, California, Illinois, Colorado and Minnesota — citing considerations about widespread unlawful use of taxpayer cash.
Right here’s the most important snort. Hochul responded to the freeze by insisting there’s no proof of fraud in New York and becoming a member of with the 4 different states to sue. “We’ll be having a litigation technique,” she mentioned.
Sorry, Governor, however New York is probably going the welfare fraud capital of the nation — a significant cause New Yorkers are taxed to loss of life.
The Shopper Directed Private Help Program is a infamous instance.
Begin with a sensible thought — letting buddies and family members receives a commission to supply look after the sick. With insufficient oversight, it has grown over 10 years into what Hochul herself admits is “probably the most abused applications within the historical past of New York.”
Individuals are billing the state for caring for the useless, or for a number of individuals with completely different addresses all on the similar time — cashing in for as a lot as $200,000 a 12 months.
In 2025, a staggering 623,000 individuals claimed to be dwelling well being and private assistants, making it by far the most important occupation within the state, far outstripping retail salespersons, nurses or cashiers and waitresses.
New York state taxpayers are paying for this fraud, and so are federal taxpayers, as a result of CDPAP is supported by Medicaid. However Hochul would quite sue the Trump administration than clear up the dishonest.
A federal choose blocked Trump’s freeze for 14 days. However the deserves of the case are with Trump. The federal authorities has accountability to ensure funds are used actually.
That can be why Republicans within the U.S. Senate should maintain the road in opposition to the push to supply what Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer calls a “clear” three-year extension of the COVID-19-era enhanced subsidies for Obamacare plans. There’s nothing “clear” about it. Obamacare is crammed with fraud. Permitting the soiled methods to proceed, at big value to taxpayers, for one more three years is unacceptable.
Yearly Democrats applaud expanded enrollment within the ACA, ignoring the truth that a lot of it’s fraudulent. The Authorities Accountability Workplace, a nonpartisan watchdog company, discovered that folks utilizing pretend identifies to join backed medical insurance get via each time.
Fraudsters use stolen Social Safety numbers — in a single case to join 71 insurance policies in a single 12 months. Brokers and insurance coverage brokers enroll individuals with out their data and maintain the commissions. It’s been happening for over a decade.
The bureaucrats working Obamacare couldn’t care much less concerning the taxpayers footing the invoice.
Do Democrats care, or are they now the occasion of fraudsters as an alternative of the taxpayers?
It’s long gone time to crack down on fraud.
Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State and Chairman & Founding father of the Committee to Cut back An infection Deaths at www.hospitalinfection.org.
