A disturbing report released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), says that as many as 2.3 million illegal immigrants collected $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits last year.
The Washington Post reported:
Although undocumented workers are not eligible for federal benefits, the report released Thursday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration concludes that federal law is ambiguous on whether these workers qualify for a tax break based on earned income called the additional child tax credit.
The audit explains:
Many individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States, and thus not eligible to obtain a Social Security Number (SSN) for employment, earn income in the United States. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides such individuals with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to facilitate their filing of tax returns. Although the law prohibits aliens residing without authorization in the United States from receiving most Federal public benefits, an increasing number of these individuals are filing tax returns claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), a refundable tax credit intended for working families.
The audit also explains that this credit is actually an incentive for immigrants to enter the country illegally:
The payment of Federal funds through this tax benefit appears to provide an additional incentive for aliens to enter, reside, and work in the United States without authorization, which contradicts Federal law and policy to remove such incentives.
The problem is that the IRS does not have the authority to refuse these claims, and 72 percent of claims using the ITIM's claimed this credit.
Tina Korbe writes at Hot Air that "recent changes to tax law have made the refund even easier to obtain."
Lisa Rein explains:
Changes to tax law are partly to blame for the explosion in refunds for additional child tax credits in recent years, auditors found. Before 2001, filers needed to have three or more children to qualify — and to owe more Social Security taxes than earned income credits.
But those requirements have been eliminated and the allowable refund for each child doubled. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 also made the refund easier to get, auditors found.
The audit recommends that IRS seek clarification on the law and check the immigration status of filers with taxpayer indentification numbers. Doing so, they say, will reduce federal outlays by $8.4 billion over two years.
IRS officials agreed, saying they will "discuss with the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy their views of the current state of the law regarding the eligibility for the CTC and the ACTC."
Farmers in Washington State rely heavily on illegal immigrants, according to an article in the Vancouver Sun:
If you buy strawberry Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Steve Sakuma says, there’s an 80 percent chance that you’re going to get his berries, grown on some of the richest black soil in America, in northern Washington state, about 50 miles from the Canadian border.
The 65-year-old farmer estimated that about 80 percent of the 231 workers on his farm were in the country illegally, despite providing the required paperwork.
“These illegal immigrants, or whatever you want to call them, have been around for a long time,” he said. “And guess what? They’re not bad. They’re just making a living. They’re here doing what other people won’t do. If you think that white America is going to come out here and pick these strawberries, you have been living in the dark for a long time.”
During the 2010 midterm election, illegal immigrants canvassed neighborhoods in the Seattle area to help re-elect Democratic Senator Patty Murray, and some can be seen selling fruit on Spokane streets.
-----------------------------------------------------------
If you like this article, you can follow Joe on Twitter @jnewby1956, visit his Facebook page, or click the Subscribe button to receive email updates when a new article is published.
Comments