Groups want
Trump to close loophole allowing illegal immigrants to abuse tax credits, by Melissa Jacobs
2/9/17
Illegal immigrants need
only one number to access billions of dollars in free taxpayer cash.
The Individual Tax Identification
Number (ITIN) unlocks an exclusive gateway for non-citizens to receive monies
meant for working, low-income Americans. The nine-digit code was created by
bureaucrats in 1996 for foreigners who had to deal with the IRS. It allows
people without a Social Security number, including those in the country
illegally, to file taxes.
“It’s just a farce to say
it was created to collect taxes,” Robert Rector, senior research fellow at the
Heritage Foundation, told Fox News. “It’s nothing but a welfare program
designed for illegal immigrants. ITINS are for tourists or illegals. No ITIN
filer is eligible to work in the United States.”
The problem with ITIN,
critics say, is gives non-citizens access to federal cash that they should not
be entitled to receive. Once illegal immigrants file ITIN tax returns, they can
apply for a Child Tax Credit – which entitles them to $1,000 per child. Unlike
the Earned Income Tax Credit, which requires a Social Security Number to
qualify, the Child Tax Credit is a cash program that does not.
Critics say that makes it
ripe for abuse.
Numerous investigations by the
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
have chronicled not only improper Child Tax Credit fraud and error payments
ranging from $5.9 billion to $7.1 billion, but schemes such as nearly 24,000
ITIN payments going to the same address. The audit reports also found IRS
management was “not concerned with addressing questionable applications” but
“interested only in the volume of applications that can be processed,
regardless of whether they are fraudulent.”
Another audit report
examining ITIN usage found Child Tax Credit claims more than quadrupled in five
years, from $924 million in 2005 to $4.2 billion in 2010.
More on
this...
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to resign over tax evasion stemming from paying immigrant workers in cash
Undocumented immigrants pay $11.6 billion per year in state taxes, report says
Here are the
Rules for Claiming the Child Tax Credit
An agency spokesman said
the IRS recently paid $5.7 billion to ITIN for those claiming child tax credit
and in 2015 it paid $3.4 billion.
A Social Security number
is required to qualify for any federal public benefit. Green card holders,
refugees and those granted asylum receive Social Security Numbers. But workers
without a Social Security Number can still file taxes – and apply for certain
tax credits – with an ITIN number.
“If you don’t have a
Social Security number, you shouldn’t be getting a tax payment,” David North of
the Center for Immigration Studies told Fox News. “It keeps happening and
nobody pays attention.”
Some are calling for
President Trump to close the loophole and require people to obtain a Social
Security number in order to receive a Child Tax Credit. North says no such
course correction was included in an immigration-related draft order leaked to
The Washington Post late
January.
“The order overlooks one
of the largest sources of payments to non-citizens,” North said. “The federal
government should not be subsidizing people who are in this country illegally.”
North said the program has
little oversight and abuse is not taken seriously.
“The Treasury Department
is not careful who gets a number,” North said. Documents can be obtained
through the mail, proving foreign status via a passport or combination of such
documents as a VISA, foreign voter ID or school and medical records, without
in-person interviews.
While congressional
attempts to adjust the practice have sputtered, Indiana Congressman Luke Messer
is resurrecting an effort to address the issue.
“After eight years of the
Obama administration, it’s clear the law isn’t clear enough,” Messer told Fox
News. “There is no policy reason why we should be supporting families who are
here illegally.”
Messer’s proposal, H.R.
363, would ensure only taxpayers with a valid Social Security number are able
to claim the Child Tax Credit. He says his legislation will save America
billions of dollars and “could be a method to pay for the wall.” Messer
says he hopes to package the law into congressional tax reform efforts but
would “welcome an administrative fix.” Rector concurs, saying Trump needs to
step in and take action.
“An executive order could
stop this immediately,” he said. “It violates welfare reform to make these
payments to illegal immigrants.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/09/groups-want-trump-to-close-loophole-allowing-illegal-immigrants-to-abuse-tax-credits.html
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