Posting on his blog , University of Cincinnati law professor Paul L. Caron has discovered that the wonderful government folks who want to run our health care system are error prone in other endeavors.

IRS Has 70% Error Rate in Issuance of Taxpayer ID Numbers, Resulting in Fraudulent Tax Refunds

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) Are Being Issued Without Sufficient Supporting Documentation (2010-40-005):

(snip)

TIGTA reviewed a sample of ITIN applications and found that almost 70% contained significant errors and/or raised concerns that should have prevented the issuance of an ITIN. The IRS estimates that it has issued more than 14 million ITINs as of December 2008.

And what are these ITINs as opposed to Social Security numbers?

ITINs are intended to provide tax identification numbers to resident and nonresident alien individuals who may have U.S. tax reporting or filing obligations but do not qualify for Social Security Numbers, which generally are only issued to U.S. citizens and individuals legally admitted to the U.S. ...

Which means

"If the IRS continues to issue ITINs without proper verification, the risk of fraudulently filed returns - along with fraudulently claimed refunds - will continue to rise," added Inspector General George.

Tell me again, President Barack Hussein Obama (D) that absolutely, positively no illegal aliens will get expensive, American tax payer funded health care under your draconian health care "reform" bill just as they don't receive billions of dollars of other American tax payer funded goodies.

Apparently the IRS does slightly better, but still is appallingly inaccurate in the stimulus billions gaudily flung about to get the economy going, Caron reports.

IRS Cannot Verify Taxpayer Eligibility for 2/3 of $325 Billion of Stimulus Tax Benefits

TIGTA found that the IRS is unable to verify taxpayer eligibility for the majority of Recovery Act tax benefits and credits at the time a tax return is processed. This includes 13 of the 20 benefits and credits for individual taxpayers and 26 of the tax provisions benefiting businesses.

The government medical programs in place now, Medicare and Medicaid, suffer from millions in fraudulent claims; the nightmare medical insurance reform bill that eventually emerges will add to it.

hat tip: instapundit.com