All the comments about the Bush administration being a reverse Robin Hood by cutting programs for the poor while cutting taxes for the rich have been more literally true than people realized.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, in her annual report to Congress, reports that the IRS has been devoting significant resources to cheating poor Americans of refunds they are due.

As many as 1.6 million filings of those making $13,000 or less have been frozen and labeled fraudulent without the taxpayers being informed. Of those that pursued their refunds, 80% eventually had their returns processed.

The returns are being flagged by a “data-mining” computer program similar to ones used by the NSA to target people for eavesdropping. Unfortunately, the program has proven to be very unreliable. Even among the returns that were designated “conclusively fraudulent”, half were ultimately found to be legitimate.