Thread: OK-It's a pig: Remittance bill another attempt at punishment

It's a pig: Remittance bill another attempt at punishment of illegal immigrants

Tulsa World (Oklahoma)
July 26, 2009 Sunday
MIKE JONES Associate Editor


House Bill 2250 and its amendment, The Drug Money Laundering and Wire Transmitter Act, sailed through the Legislature and was signed by the governor this session.

Who could be opposed to such a law?

No one, other than drug dealers, wants to see money laundered right here in Oklahoma. Certainly no law-abiding citizen wants to see illegal funds sent to foreign countries.

HB 2250 covers issues such as charging a $150 fee to a person convicted of a misdemeanor or felony for forensic and laboratory services.

It also, among other things, would charge a $150 fee for a DNA test for anyone convicted of a felony.

The bill also deals with the sale of confiscated property from convicted drug offenders.

The fees help pay for state law enforcement, from the OSBI to the prison system. With state tax money at a premium and the economy faltering, it makes sense to get money for operations where it can be found.

And fees are a likely and often logical source. But take a closer look at an amendment to this bill by Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, The Drug Money Laundering and Wire Transmitter Act.

Although it sounds as if it is aimed at drug dealers, and it is to some degree, its primary target is illegal aliens.

And, believe it or not, they are not all drug dealers laundering drug money and sending it back to their cartel in Mexico or elsewhere south of the border.

This portion of the bill imposes a $5 fee plus an additional fee of 1 percent of the amount over $500 for each funds transfer through any licensed money transmitter.

How that is supposed to stop money laundering or the drug trade is questionable.

Any successful drug dealer could certainly afford the minimal fees. Its poorly disguised aim is to discourage illegal immigrants from sending money home to their families.

A tax credit is available for the fees to Oklahoma residents who file state tax returns.

The collateral damages are all the poor or those who do not earn enough to file state taxes as well as out-of-state visitors.

In other words, if grandma who doesn't make enough money to file tax returns wants to send the grandkids in Texas some money for Christmas she gets to pay an extra $5 at the minimum.

People are upset because they see illegal immigrants as not only taking jobs but then sending money to family in a foreign country. This tax (or fee) on remittances is considered the best way to discourage that practice.

And it likely will accomplish its goal, if it goes unchallenged.

The bill likely will pass muster under State Question 640, which established that no new taxes can be raised unless passed by three-fourths of the Legislature or a vote of the people.

HB 2250 passed almost unanimously in the Legislature. There is a question, however, whether it is a tax and a revenue bill or simply a fee.

If it is a tax it could be in violation of the state Constitution because it passed in the final five days of the legislative session and takes effect Nov. 1, less than 90 days from passage, which is prohibited by the Constitution.

Similar laws have been challenged in other states, including Georgia and Texas. To be classified as a fee it has to go to the entity regulating the service for which the fee is charged.

Under this bill, the beneficiary of the fee seems to be the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, which has no authority over illegal immigration, other than drug issues.

It also could be challenged as a restraint of interstate commerce.

Congress has the power to regulate commerce among the states and states cannot place undue burden on that commerce.

This fee creates several problems. This will fall on deaf ears to those who want every immigrant (legal or illegal) in the state rounded up and sent home, but it does raise some moral and safety issues.

The fee on remittances will likely force illegal immigrants to find other avenues to send money home.

They could use unlicensed transmitters who charge huge fees or couriers who risk their lives carrying money across the border.

It also could have a reverse effect by forcing the use of money launderers, which defeats any legitimate purpose of the bill. And it is regressive by placing a fee on out-of-state residents, and some residents, the poor, who can least afford it.

Like it or not, illegal immigrants are going to send money home. In fact, in 2006 people from all over the world, not just illegal immigrants here, sent $300 billion to developing countries.

According to the Inter-American Development Bank, "Remittances constitute one of the broadest and most effective poverty alleviation programs in the world, reaching approximately 20 million households in the (Latin American and Caribbean) region alone."

The Treasury Department in the administration of President George W. Bush favored lowering the costs of remittances and eliminating obstacles and other restrictive measures that affect the cost of sending money home.

There is no need for state law to challenge that. This is no more than another attempt to punish a segment of our society that often feels helpless under the law.

It serves no other purpose. It comes disguised as an anti-drug law, but it is not. You can put nice clothes on a pig, but it nevertheless is a pig.

This portion of the bill is a pig. Editor's note: In last week's column on the NAACP's 100th anniversary, I said that Springfield, Ill., was the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.

Of course, I was mistaken and plenty of people told me so. I meant to say it was Lincoln's hometown.

Thanks for setting me straight.

Mike Jones, 581-8332 mike.jones@tulsaworld.com www.tulsaworld.com/jonesblog

SUBHEAD: Remittance bill another attempt at punishment of illegal immigrants

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/En ... 26&start=4

Hmmmmmmmm and what can you expect from a pig but a grunt.

Great idea. Here is NC, they would raise at least 12 million dollars on $1,243,000,000 in remittances last year. They are raising taxes on everything else, why not this too?

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/D ... eID=455048

SECTION 11. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 2-503.1j of Title 63, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:

A. Any licensee of a money transmission, transmitter or wire transmitter business pursuant to the Oklahoma Financial Transaction Reporting Act and their delegates shall collect a fee of Five Dollars ($5.00) for each transaction not in excess of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) and in addition to such fee an amount equal to one percent (1%) of the amount in excess of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).

B. The fee prescribed by subsection A of this section shall be remitted quarterly to the Oklahoma Tax Commission on such forms as the Commission, with the assistance of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, may prescribe for such purpose. All required forms and remittances shall be filed with the Tax Commission not later than the fifteenth day of the month following the close of each calendar quarter.