Thread: Paying dues

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/edi ... 75344.html


Jan. 16, 2007, 9:13PM
Paying dues
Filing federal income tax lessens resentment, builds credibility for undocumented


Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

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Imagine visiting, unbidden, the IRS. Envision lining up for paperwork that nobody requires. Then picture using it to pay a tax that no one asked for.

This scenario occurs maybe hundreds of thousands of times a year among undocumented immigrants. Though they're working here illegally, many pay taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs, said Irma Trevino, a spokeswoman for the Internal Revenue Service. Many more should do the same.

Devised for investors who live outside the country, tax IDs let people without Social Security numbers assume the most American of burdens, the income tax. The Internal Revenue Service has granted more than 9 million of the tax IDs since 1996.

Yet the agency doesn't know how many IDs went to undocumented immigrants — or how much tax revenue their payments created. That's because the IRS doesn't keep separate records for those immigrants or share taxpayer data with anybody. Anecdotally, IRS spokeswoman Trevino and Latino community workers agree, a growing number of illegal immigrants use ITINs to pay taxes.

There are several reasons. Many lenders accept ITIN records from prospective homeowners who lack Social Security numbers. That's legal. Some employers also require the IDs from workers. That won't change anyone's illegal status.

Often, ITIN users are illegal immigrants who want a history of law-abiding action in case a path to citizenship arises. Immigrants with strong cases already use ITINS to prove they're not a burden on society.

Yet there's more to ITINs popularity than a better immigration case. Nelson Reyes, director of Houston's Gulfton Area Neighborhood Organization [GANO] says immigrants with little hope of being citizens frequently pay income taxes, too.

"It's part of maintaining this country," he said. "Most of us come here with the goal of doing the right thing — being part of a system that thinks well of us."

Critics, though, oppose using ITINs this way. It's just one more foothold in society, they argue, for immigrants who are not entitled to it.

If the ITIN incentivized illegal crossings, the critics might have a point. But many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now here came before tax IDs were offered in 1996. Many still don't file ITINs.

They should. Federal taxes are rent for services that government supplies; everyone whose income is sufficient ought to pay.

Already, most illegal immigrants pay Medicare and Social Security through payroll deductions. Their payments create 10 percent of the Social Security surplus, according to the Social Security Administration.

But it's in all illegal immigrants' interest to pay their way. Filing federal income taxes can ease frictions when public services are overworked. It's also a political statement.

Street protests in Houston last year showed immigrants' resolve. But they left some onlookers confused about the marchers' investment in this country.

Filing ITINs shows that illegal immigrants grasp the dues-paying U.S. society requires. That statement, and the resulting dollar figure, may make the case for immigration reform more persuasively than marches.

"It's part of maintaining this country," he said. "Most of us come here with the goal of doing the right thing — being part of a system that thinks well of us."

You broke the law by coming here illegally so how can you possibly boast about "doing the right thing"?
If you were doing the right thing, you'd be waiting IN YOUR COUNTRY properly.
Just more hypocrasy being utilized by illegals to justify their illegal actions.