Family Tax Credits: The Farce Continues

So, we learn today, that in the year today, the government managed to overpay £1.8 billion in Family Tax Credits. Apparently, however, we should be reassured that it won't be so bad in the next year: the government expects to overpay a third less. Great, so the government is only overpaying £1.2 billion.

What?

What?

What?

1. Why is the government so monumentally incompetent at calculating what is and what isn't due?

2. More pressingly, why is the government taxing these low income households in the first place?

Call me outrageous, but I have always believed that the poorest families should not be paying tax. And, that includes National Insurance. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the cost of collecting and then reimbursing taxes is a ludicrous waste of public money. Why not up the tax-free allowance to £10,000?

It's not rocket science now Gordon, is it?