Illinois Lost HALF or $1.8 billion of Its Pandemic ‘Stimulus’ Benefits to Fraud and Scammers

I am sure Illinois is not an isolated case! 😊 

This is a stern reminder that large temporary government expenditure programs financed often with more government debt is prone to wate, fraud, and abuse. E.g. income tax holidays accompanied by cuts of government expenditures would be preferable! 

"The federal government’s multi-trillion-dollar “stimulus” efforts during the pandemic may go down as the biggest legislative failure in modern American history. Congress spent an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer ... and only successfully “stimulated” inflation. What’s more, evidence continues to mount that the biggest beneficiaries of this binge were criminals and fraudsters. 

A new analysis from the American Enterprise Institute’s Matt Weingarten reports that the state of Illinois lost half of the money it sent out in expanded pandemic unemployment benefits to scammers. 

Illinois’s inspector general reports that the level of fraud it experienced was “unprecedented” and amounted to more than $1.8 billion lost. ..."

"... The report describes “overpayments associated with ID theft and traditional fraud within the PUA program” as “unprecedented.” Specifically, the audit states that ID theft overpayments under the PUA program totaled over $1.8 billion—or 50.4 percent of the $3.6 billion in PUA payments. ..."

This State Lost HALF Its Pandemic ‘Stimulus’ Benefits to Fraud and Scammers - Foundation for Economic Education

Audit Finds Half of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Benefits in Illinois Were Stolen