Scamming the System

A little over a year ago I wrote a column detailing how I was cheated out of getting the First Time Buyers credit for purchasing our new town home. The real estate dealer, who was coincidentally the wife of the builder, raised the selling price by just a little less than the amount of the credit. Therefore, I bought the property at an inflated price and the credit I claimed at tax time only compensated me for a small part of that inflated cost.

The only reason I caught on to the scam is that my wife went across the street to see what the same model of town home was selling for after the First Time Buyers Credit expired. The newly built ones were priced several thousand dollars less than ours had been. That immediately lowered the value of our place by that amount, so we lost our refund credit entirely.

I refer to that scam now because there is a similar one taking place right now, but it isn’t in the housing market, but in the automobile market, another troubled sector of our weak and failing economy. I only learned of it a few weeks ago. The news was contained in an article I probably sent to you titled, Greed is Good as a Tax Credit by John Ransom. (The actual title of the article, which I admit I altered so that my left-leaning family and friends would read it, is, Dems: Greed is Good as a Tax Credit)

In that article Mr. Ransom cites evidence that, among other scams that cheat the system and steal from the American Taxpayer, many General Motors car dealers – it might not be ALL, but a huge majority - who sell the new Chevy Volt hybrid car are creating their own scam.

The dealers title the cars as they receive them, claim the $7,500 credit available for any buyer of these $40k+ cars, and then turn around and sell them as ‘used’ cars with low mileage – in some cars, only 10-30 miles on the odometer – at full Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price. Of course, the purchaser of this ‘used’ car thinks it is new, but is not eligible to claim the credit. He or she might not find that out until tax time when the credit is disallowed.

The GM Volt scam has two consequences. The first is that unscrupulous dealers are cheating the purchaser and ultimately, the taxpayers. You probably already know that car dealers are among the most distrusted of all sales people. The second is that is enables all interested parties, including the Obama Administration and the “eco-freaks,” to claim that the Volt is so popular that Chevrolet can’t make them fast enough. After all, new ones aren’t available on the car dealers’ lots, only slightly used ones.

Disregarding the fact that the $7,500 credit is being paid to the wrong people through fraud, the second consequence is just another lie we’re being told to support the contention that our economy is in the recovery phase.

Ask any of those millions – I believe the number is over 4 million, possibly as high as 6 million as I write this – who are unemployed and have been so for two years or more. They will tell you that their economy certainly isn’t in the recovery phase.

I’m not making any judgments, just reporting the facts. Can you live with them?