Washington, DC – U.S. Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., MD (R-Southwest Louisiana), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the House Ways and Means Committee, today held a hearing to investigate improper payments in the administration of tax credits.

“Improper payments arising from refundable tax credits have cost taxpayers an estimated $106 billion in less than a decade,” Boustany said in his opening statement. “To put this amount of money in perspective, it’s more than the fiscal year budgets of the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, and Transportation – combined.”

Boustany cited specific programs – the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Additional Child Tax Credit, and the First Time Homebuyer Credit – as some of the most vulnerable federal programs for improper payments. The IRS has issued as much as $83 billion in improper payments for the EITC alone, according to a Government Accountability Office report. “Not enough is being done to stem the tide of improper payments,” Boustany said.

The Inspector General also found several thousand examples of fraud ignored by the IRS for the First Time Homebuyer Credit. Tax filers received the credits by listing a P.O. Box as the qualifying home. Prisoners and children were also able to apply for and receive the credit.

With calls for cuts to government spending and waste, Boustany is aggressively pursuing problems in the tax code through several hearings in the Oversight Subcommittee. Witnesses echoed calls by the Ways and Means Committee to reform the complex tax code to prevent fraud and waste in tax credits.

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