Two witnesses who testified at a House committee hearing Wednesday said a culture that allows for the widespread defrauding of government programs ultimately causes working people who play by the rules to pay higher taxes.

Republican Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball and Dr. OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), were among the four total witnesses who testified at ahearingon “Fraud Prevention: Understanding Fraud in Federally Funded Programs Run by the States,” which the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Government Operations held Wednesday.

Ball and Oleka explained their experience combating such fraud — particularly in their shared home state of Kentucky — and why the issue should concern all taxpaying Americans, in interviews with the DCNF conducted after the hearing.

“When you have a culture that defers to fraud and allows it to stand, then you spend more money,” Oleka said as part of his testimony during the hearing, explaining why he thinks fraud is such a “big deal.” “When you spend more money that then mandates, based on your political philosophy, an increase in taxes. So, if you increase taxes on hardworking families, now they’re faced with the choice of putting gas in their car [or] paying [for] diapers for their children.”

“There’s a real cost that families have to go through all because fraud wasn’t detected. And it [fraud] also sows distrust, because you have people who are trying to survive on WIC [Women, Infants, and Children] or SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] or government benefits, and they look to their left and they see one of their neighbors who’s a fraudster riding around in a Benz buying as much food as they can,” he added.

“I would hope that nobody’s trying to make fraud a partisan issue. I think it’s really important that you’ve got the American people who feel not only compelled but interested in making sure their money is being spent efficiently,” Oleka told the DCNF.

“I’m an American citizen and I pay taxes. I want to make sure my government’s spending it efficiently. So, however you approach that as a government leader, I think really it probably demonstrates the kind of leader that you are.”

NEW:@OJOlekatells the House Oversight Committee why FRAUD is “such a big deal.”

“When you have a culture that defers to fraud … then you spend more money … you increase taxes on hardworking families

And it also sows distrust.”@DailyCallerpic.twitter.com/sCqUNt86nv

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