North Carolina Bill Would Tax Wire Transfers From Illegal Immigrants
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press Writer

Posted: Today at 5:34 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — A proposed tax on money wire transfers made by illegal immigrants would be impossible to enforce and could subject businesses to discrimination lawsuits, opponents of the measure told lawmakers Tuesday.

But the chief sponsor of the bill likened such identification checks to the age restrictions placed on alcohol and tobacco purchases.

"If (a person) walks up to me and speaks extremely broken English, I would say I think that I better check his identification," Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, told a House judiciary committee. "If he walks up to me and speaks extremely fluent English, then I would be a little more comfortable."

The committee didn't vote on the measure Tuesday.

The bill, which would impose a 5 percent excise tax on the wire transactions, is the latest in a series of measures filed in recent years that attempt to get a handle on the influx of undocumented workers moving into North Carolina.

An estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants live in the state, and about half of all Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. send billions of dollars to their home countries, according to reports by the Pew Hispanic Center, a national research group based in Washington.

Cleveland's measure would impose the excise tax on money being transferred by companies such as Western Union or convenience stores that wire funds for a fee. Banks would be exempt.

Marisol Jimenez McGee, a lobbyist for the Latino advocacy group El Pueblo, said undocumented workers already pay sales tax and most have taxes and Social Security withheld from their paychecks.

"This would be a new regressive tax," McGee said.

The North Carolina Retail Merchants Association also opposed the measure because it would burden retailers by forcing their employees to ask for identification from anyone who wants to make a transfer, said the organization's general counsel, Andy Ellen.

"We will have to identify every single person who comes in the door. If not, we open ourselves up to discrimination claims," Ellen told lawmakers.

Cleveland dismissed the argument, saying retailers could use common sense to identify potential illegal immigrants. Cleveland said his bill would target money being sent abroad by illegal immigrants who were unlawfully paid in cash.

"Just doing some simple math, I believe there's a lot of money leaving our state that should be taxed," Cleveland told the committee.

Similar bills have been filed recently in Texas and Georgia. A 5 percent tax was approved by the Georgia House last year, but the language was left out of the Legislature's final sweeping immigration bill. The Texas bill didn't clear the Senate Finance Committee this year.

Under the bill in North Carolina, an individual trying to transfer money would have to provide "adequate evidence" of legal living and working status in the U.S. to establish employment eligibility and avoid the tax.

The person would have to provide a combination of specific documents, such as a Social Security card and driver's license from any state, or a military identification card and a U.S. passport.

Responding to questions after the hearing, Cleveland said store clerks should be able to identify illegal immigrants using other methods: "If a fella comes in with a pair of shaggy boots on, jeans and a T-shirt and he's got a straw hat on - I mean, come on, give me a break."

Any suggestion that legal status "can be made on the basis of ethnicity or physical appearance is a clear illustration of how such violations would occur and inevitably lead to a flood of discrimination cases across the state," McGee said later.

Rep. Dan Blue, D-Wake, the judiciary committee chairman, said the brief discussion showed the "deep complexities about this bill." He said it would be discussed again.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1495050/