Fraudsters

One common refrain concerning taxes is, I don’t mind paying if the money is properly used. All too often examples of waste and fraud keep coming to the surface. Tax the rich and use that money to help those who are not rich. In practice, too many times much of the money is siphoned off by various agencies and sometimes criminals before it gets to it intended purpose. Here is one of many examples: A 2024 California state audit found that the state spent roughly $24 billion on homelessness programs over five years, yet failed to consistently track the effectiveness or outcomes of this spending. Despite this investment, the homeless population grew to over 181,000, with critics arguing the approach lacks accountability, transparency, and sufficient data to justify the high costs. The question of what happened to the money cannot be answered because the controls needed to follow the money were not properly installed. California is now proposing a tax on billionaires to fund healthcare and education expected to raise $100 billion dollars but will the money go where it is intended. Will this be another slush fund for unscrupulous fraudsters? MN was a little better. Money was stolen from government projects designed to help feed children, house poor families and treat autism and much of it was sent overseas and additional sums were used to purchase luxury items for the thieves.