Federal ‘improper spending’ surges to $98bn

(From the Financial Times) The US government wasted almost $100bn in tax dollars in fiscal 2009 – more than a third more than the year before – prompting the White House to pledge a crackdown on fraud and mistakes in federal spending.

So-called “improper payments” by government agencies to individuals, organizations and contractors surged from $72bn in 2008 to $98bn in 2009; 5 per cent of total outlays. The Obama administration’s critics are likely to seize on the figures as support for their argument that the government has spent too much with little to show for it, especially at a time of record budget deficits.

The White House said the rise in improper payments was in large part due to the sheer increase in government spending, along with stricter measurement of such payments. But Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said that there was nevertheless too much waste.

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