Tag Archives: U.S. Treasury Department

Stopping Fraud Before It Happens

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On Tuesday, The New York Post posted an article about a government-wide payment verification process implemented last year.

The article reports:

The Treasury Department has blocked nearly $100 million in taxpayer money from going to dead people since implementing a government-wide payment verification process last year, The Post has learned. 

The department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service discovered the money set to go to ghosts after a review of an eye-popping 885 million payments worth a total of nearly $2.7 trillion.

Since March 2025, the screening has identified more than 4,900 disbursements, worth approximately $99 million, associated with deceased payees, according to the Treasury. 

The $99 million figure is a tiny fraction (0.0036%) of the $2.7 trillion the department reviewed as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on waste, fraud and abuse — but more than triple what Treasury discovered going to the deceased in the days before President Trump took office last year.   

“Treasury has delivered on a key promise of President Trump’s mandate to stop improper payments and fraud before money leaves the Treasury, and strengthen the integrity of the federal payment system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. 

The article concludes:

In February, Trump signed the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act into law, which allowed Treasury permanent access to the death file.

The department has projected a gain of $330 million in net benefits through the reduction in improper payments to dead people.

I am thrilled that the payments to dead people are being stopped, but is there any effort made to prosecute the people who spent the money?

Stopping An Unnecessary Drain On America’s Finances

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On Thursday, Breitbart posted an article about a new regulation being put in place by the U.S. Treasury Department that will potentially save taxpayers anywhere from $870 million to $1.6 billion.

The article reports:

President Donald Trump’s Treasury Department will issue a new rule that prevents illegal aliens and foreign nationals from securing income tax credits such as the lucrative Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit, Breitbart News has exclusively learned.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the agency would issue new regulations regarding who is eligible for such income tax credits under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA).

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are enforcing the law and preventing illegal aliens from claiming tax benefits intended for American citizens,” Bessent told Breitbart News.

In particular, the rule will clarify that refunded portions of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Additional Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Saver’s Match Credit are federal public benefits and, therefore, illegal aliens and other foreign nationals will not be eligible to receive such benefits.

…The rule comes after the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel released an opinion on the matter that interprets income tax credits as federal public benefits, thus making illegal aliens ineligible.

The article concludes:

Researchers estimate that illegal aliens given Social Security Numbers likely enjoy $2.9 billion in cash payments — $2 billion deriving from the Earned Income Tax Credit and about $890 million from the Additional Child Tax Credit.

Likewise, illegal aliens with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers are estimated to receive anywhere from $870 million to $1.6 billion in Additional Child Tax Credit payments.

The Treasury Department rule is set to take effect for the 2026 tax year.

America has an economic safety net for Americans. We cannot afford to have an economic safety net for the world.