Bette Midler Shades IRS After $1 Billion in Stimulus Checks Were Sent to Dead People

Bette Midler has a bone to pick with the IRS, as she outlined in one of her latest tweets. On Friday, Midler addressed the fact that over $1 billion in stimulus checks were reportedly sent to dead people. The news of this flub comes as many Americans are wondering whether another economic impact payment could be on the way, while others are still waiting to receive their first one.

On Twitter, Midler wrote to her followers that the IRS reportedly sent out “$1.4 billion in stimulus checks” to dead people. She ended her post by writing a facetious, “Did it work?” If you follow Midler on Twitter, you would know that the actor frequently expresses her opinions regarding the state of the country and, particularly, her disapproval of President Donald Trump’s administration. Although, her latest post seems to feature a question that is on many individuals’ minds in light of this news about the IRS and these stimulus payments.

Earlier this week, just like Midler shared, the Washington Post reported that the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) sent out checks to more than one million dead Americans, based on a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The publication reported that the government sent out 1.1 million checks to deceased individuals totaling $1.4 billion as of April 30. Several mistakes were made when lawmakers initially drafted up the CARES Act, the $2 trillion stimulus package that the White House and Congress agreed to in March. When the CARES Act was being drafted, the IRS reportedly floated the idea of sending payments to the deceased, though “IRS counsel determined they did not have the legal authority to deny payments to people who had filed a return.”

The Washington Post added that the Treasury Department and the IRS reportedly made some mistakes as they were attempting to deliver these payments as “rapidly as possible.” As a result, the Treasury and the IRS reportedly used operational procedures and policies that were previously implemented for the 2008 stimulus checks. Although, those policies did not include “using [Social Security Administration] death records as a filter to halt payments to decedents.” The IRS has not revealed whether they have plans to retrieve these payments.