Thread: U.S. Tax Program for Illegal Immigrants

U.S. Tax Program for Illegal Immigrants Under Fire
by Bianca Vazquez Toness

The hundreds of thousands of immigrants working in the United States illegally are still expected to pay income taxes. The program works by providing a special tax identification number instead of a Social Security number — and participants are guaranteed that the information can't be used to deport them.

But the program's critics say that it amounts to the Internal Revenue Service abetting illegal immigrants.

More than 1 million non-U.S. citizens will file their taxes this year. One of the reasons that those who are living and working illegally in the United States want to file taxes is that they see an opportunity to prove their economic contribution and document their residence.

Last year, 1.4 million people used the special numbers. The last time the government checked, more than half of the people using an individual taxpayer identification number, or ITIN, were illegal immigrants.

Federal tax law prohibits the IRS from sharing information with other government agencies, including immigration authorities. So it's the promise of confidentiality that allows immigrants to file their taxes without fear of being deported.

The U.S. Treasury created ITINs 11 years ago, to help people working here without Social Security numbers comply with U.S. tax laws. According to the law, if you earn money here you have to report it, even if you're here illegally.

Marti Dinerstein, president of Immigration Matters, a public policy firm in New York that advocates for stricter immigration laws, calls the situation "ridiculous."

"They know that people that are using ITINs are in the country illegally," Dinerstein says. "It's basically tantamount to institutionalizing illegal immigration in the country."

The IRS won't comment on this, although in congressional hearings, IRS officials have acknowledged concern that the ITINs may be used for non-tax purposes. In fact, some banks have accepted the numbers in lieu of a Social Security number.

Immigration officials say the IRS is just doing what it's supposed to do — collect taxes. They say the onus is on employers to verify the legal status of their employees.

Bianca Vazquez Toness of member station WBUR reports.


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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=7718604

"It's basically tantamount to institutionalizing illegal immigration in the country."

GOSH darn then......what have we been undergoing all this time then?

Originally Posted by crazybird

"It's basically tantamount to institutionalizing illegal immigration in the country."

GOSH darn then......what have we been undergoing all this time then?

big business & our government are going to protect their taxpayer subsidized slave labor

Federal tax law prohibits the IRS from sharing information with other government agencies, including immigration authorities. So it's the promise of confidentiality that allows immigrants to file their taxes without fear of

I personally don't beleive that. They cross referenced my info and found things. Things I just blindly signed for and didn't know about. Please....they KNOW if you atre working....they KNOW if you have a bank account...They KNOW if there's savings.....PLEAse...They KNOW.

I, personally, don't believe any of it.

They aren't supposed to be able to file and claim exemptions, from what I hear. As in, end of the year filing for a hoped refund.

Some of them might be paying in some money. There is no way, however, anyone will ever make me believe they are actually paying what an American would pay. They probably don't report all their income, and probably overstate their number of children if that enters into the amount.

I am just not buying it - not any any great numbers.

Most illegals if they file a income tax return are doing so to get that special earned income tax credit. They end up with a big refund without paying any taxes.

And not only is the EITC program expensive, it is rife with fraud. In 1994, former Senator and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen stated: "By the time we release the 1996 budget – early next year – we will develop measures to deny the Earned Income Tax Credit to illegal aliens. The IRS estimates that over 150,000 illegal aliens claimed the EITC this year for last year’s taxes." A February 2002 IRS study reported that in the 1999 tax year approximately $9 billion or 30 percent of the 1999 tax year EITC should not have been paid. Fraud is so rampant in the EITC program that President Bush proposed in his fiscal year 2004 budget a $100,000 million appropriation for additional staff to police the EITC program.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance11.html

Americans with bad credit and/or those who owe the government back taxes need to start abusing this program like hell. That would put and end to it.

National Data, By Edwin S. Rubenstein
EITC: How the Tax Code Subsidizes Immigrants (Including Illegals)
Since 1996 the IRS has encouraged taxpayers who are not eligible for Social Security numbers—basically foreigners, including illegal aliens—to file income tax returns using income taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs).

At first illegals were wary of applying for the taxpayer numbers, fearing that the IRS would share the information with INS, thereby increasing the likelihood of apprehension.

Silly them!

But now, for various reasons, illegals embrace ITINs.More than seven million ITINs have been issued by the agency. (Table 1)

Many think filing tax returns will help them qualify for amnesty in the future. Moreover, although the IRS supposedly discourages it, banks have begun accepting ITINs in lieu of Social Security numbers on account and mortgage applications.

Some states even issue drivers licenses to illegals with the identification numbers.

By far the most compelling reason for illegals to file tax returns: the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Introduced during the Nixon Administration as an alternative to the negative income tax, the EITC is the largest source of cash aid to the poor. (Table 2)

The EITC works like this: Each additional dollar earned by a family with income below $32,000 and two or more children results in a federal payment of 40 cents—up to a maximum of about $4,000 for workers earning $10,000 annually.

Workers earning between $10,000 and $12,500 do not receive any additional EITC. Above that, they enter the “phase outâ€

No. Americans actually have to obey the law or they will pay the price. If you are in the elite class, Mexican national, you can do pretty much whatever you please. The congress and this administration have decided to adopt cosmopolitan law and enforce whatever they want against whoever they want. We now live under rule by law, no different then many dictatorial regimes, except that the punishments are being enacted by foreign invaders and not directly from the government. The government is assisting the invasion by attacking their own when they get in the invaders way.