First the good news: The IRS paid out $1.6 billion less in fraudulent refunds in 2012 than in 2011. The bad news is that in 2012 it was still $3.6 billion. For purposes of this blog post, "fraudulent refunds" refers to tax refunds to people using stolen social security numbers.
(I had my own experience with this when I tried to file my 2011 return online only to find out someone else had already filed one seeking a refund to me in another city. I have a sneaking suspicion that they paid it even though I reported it in plenty of time to stop it.)
It appears to be quite easy for thieves to buy someone's most personal information. Now that each of our medical histories is going into some healthcare provider's database which will be shared with who knows whom, it won't be long before it's all available for purchase.
So far Obamacare has been a miserable failure, and only the most loyal Obamaphile would try to deny that. Maybe it will get better. Or maybe Republicans can repeal it.
But the IRS is a troubled agency. They've used their power to thwart political opposition to Obama. And they've paid out way too much money to ID thieves. And now they are requiring businesses to swear Obamacare doesn't affect their staffing decisions. If we didn't know it before, we certainly know now that getting them into the business of our medical insurance was a very bad idea.
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