By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Something goes stupidly wrong in either our government or the real world. Is there any difference? You be the judge.
Recently the Social Security Administration announced it would immediately cease efforts to collect on taxpayers’ debts that are more than 10 years old.
“The effort to collect on old debts began with a single line in the 2008 farm bill, lifting the statute of limitations on debts to the government that are more than ten years old,” reports the Washington Post. “The Treasury Department then set up rules that allowed the government to settle such debts by intercepting taxpayers’ refunds.”
Mary Grice, also a government worker, never got her refund this year. Supposedly, when her father died in 1960, her mother continued to receive survivors’ benefits that were not eligible. Our government determined the overpayment amounted to $2,996.
Mary was four years old when her father died.
By the time our government found a way to collect on this debt, not only were both of Mary’s parents deceased, but also two of the five siblings. A due process suit filed by Mary’s attorney caught the attention of both the government and the Washington Post.
Now comes the scramble to shed responsibility.
Several members of Congress agree our government should not hold children accountable for financial acts of their parents. Federal Trade Commission advises citizens “family members typically are not obligated to pay the debts of a deceased relative from their own assets.”
Social Security’s acting commissioner Carolyn Colvin directed an immediate halt to further referrals under the “Treasury Offset Program” to recover debts over 10 years old, pending a “thorough review of our responsibility and discretion under current law.”
Implementation of this rule was so efficient that Mary’s tax refund from the state of Maryland was also impounded without advance notice or due process.
What Mary is experiencing is apparently not rare. The Post reports the Treasury Department has impounded $1.9 billion in tax refunds this year, $75 million for debts that exceed 10 years. Social Security administrators claim they are chasing $714 million in old debts. Many of the claims are of such small amounts that a citizen does not want to add the extra expense of hiring an attorney to file a lawsuit like Mary did.
In another article, Washington Post reporter Marc Fisher created the circle of finger pointing that always accompanies episodes that are both stupid and embarrassing. Social Security denies seeking the change and suggests Treasury. Treasury denies blame and sends the reporter to Congress. Congressional staffers say, “The request probably came from the bureaucracy.”
How does our government find their scapegoat after 37 years?
Again, the Washington Post reports Social Security uses a private contractor to seek current addresses, but collections are halted if notices are returned as undeliverable.
In Mary Grice’s debt chase, the private contractor began with a post office box she rented in North Carolina from 1977 to 1979 and never since. Even though logic compels recognition that a good many claims might be traceable to government employees, no one crosschecked payroll records.
Actually, Social Security, the same agency that has the claim against Mary’s father, has Mary’s address because every year it sends her a statement about her benefits.
Remember, we wrote earlier that power to collect old debts in this manner began with a single line in the Farm Act in 2008, the final year of the Bush administration. Six years into the administration of President Obama, it took enterprising reporters from the Washington Post to discover the problem.
Carolyn Colvin has been “acting” Commissioner of Social Security since February 2013. US Senate confirmed her as deputy commissioner in 2010, but appears to be in no hurry to promote her.
The 72-year old has had an outstanding career running social service agencies at the state and federal levels, but apparently had no clue on her agency’s collection processes.
Bottom Line: Commissioner Colvin has no worries. President Obama rarely fires any of his appointees. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove may have been running the Bush administration. Who is in charge of this current government?
