Illegals May Get Rebates as Part of Stimulus Package...

[dirty]

January 30, 2008
Read More: Immigration
Lou Dobbs alert: Illegal immigrants may get rebates
In their bipartisan zeal to quickly cut a deal on an economic stimulus bill, GOP lawmakers overlooked something that will certainly inflame the conservative base _ illegal immigrants could receive a tax rebate check from the government.
But late Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee was scrambling to fix the problem _ contained in the House bill _ by only allowing taxpayers using legitimate Social Security numbers to receive rebates.
The text of the House passed bill contains language making "non resident aliens" _ illegal immigrants _ ineligible for the tax rebates. But every year, hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants use individual taxpayer identification numbers, known as ITINs, to file income tax returns with the IRS. These ID numbers are used instead of Social Security numbers. There are no exact statistics for how many illegal immigrants file tax returns, but this New York Times story from last year details the significant increase in use of ITINs. This story also lays out the issue.
Immigration advocates point out that many legal immigrants use ITINs, so it would be impossible to tell who is legal and who is not from those who use these IDs. The Senate version of the bill would prohibit use of ITINs, meaning some legal immigrants would not receive rebates.
Republicans who were involved in negotiating the bipartisan economic stimulus package would like to avoid the illegal immigration debate as the $146 billion bill comes to the Senate this week. Congressional aides say the problem is that the IRS is not a law enforcement agency, so it doesn't check immigration status when people file tax returns.
"The reality is that those who filed a tax return will be eligible" for tax rebates of $600 to $1,200, said Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.). "This [issue] has not been addressed" by the senators writing the bill.
The issue has certainly caught on in the conservative blogosphere, though, and you can bet a few conservative senators will bring this up as the stimulus bill hits the Senate floor. CNN's Lou Dobbs will probably have a field day with the issue as well.
A spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) points out that illegal immigrants are ineligible for any rebates and are committing tax fraud if they fraudulently obtain taxpayer ID numbers to file tax returns. Republicans also issued a memo Wednesday trying to defuse any controversy over immigrants and tax rebates.
"The bill includes language similar to the provisions included in the 2001 and 2003 tax relief bills designed to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits," Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said. "There is no language in the measure that would enable illegal immigrants to receive a tax rebate.”
Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative organization, says the problem is not with the economic stimulus bill but with the lack of coordination between the IRS and immigration enforcement agencies.
"If the IRS was cooperating with Social Security or DHS [Homeland Security] ... they would know who the illegal immigrants are who file tax returns," Krikorian said.
It's not clear if the Senate fix will stay in the bill as the legislation heads to the Senate floor tomorrow.
Note - Any comments with inappropriate or offensive language will be immediately deleted. There are no exceptions. Thanks, John Bresnahan



Lou Dobbs alert: Illegal immigrants may get rebates - The Crypt's Blog - Politico.com

[WildBill]

What a bunch of morons, especially this Krikorian guy. They would waste many millions looking for illegals in the files and would have little chance of finding them. It would take a computer glitch for illegals to use their own SSN and get away with it, notices get sent out on those right away. I have seen them on people who were clearly US citizens, but just the numbers were transmitted incorrectly and the problem had to be resolved with official documents and all. Really messy stuff, be sure you clearly write out your SSN when you are dealing with job matters.

This is why illegals go out and buy or just agree to use the numbers of legal residents whenever required to give a SSN for job purposes. Just how are they going to figure out what illegals are using legal numbers? Maybe if some obvious problems show up, like a person having 22 reported jobs at once, but beyond that good luck to these politicians and pundits out looking to score easy points.

Besides if this is really about goosing the economy wouldn't illegals be just as inclined to pump money into the economy? Why get caught up on a situation you can do little about in a short period of time if one believes sending out these rebates is so important?

[dirty]

Originally Posted by WildBill

What a bunch of morons, especially this Krikorian guy. They would waste many millions looking for illegals in the files and would have little chance of finding them. It would take a computer glitch for illegals to use their own SSN and get away with it, notices get sent out on those right away. I have seen them on people who were clearly US citizens, but just the numbers were transmitted incorrectly and the problem had to be resolved with official documents and all. Really messy stuff, be sure you clearly write out your SSN when you are dealing with job matters.

This is why illegals go out and buy or just agree to use the numbers of legal residents whenever required to give a SSN for job purposes. Just how are they going to figure out what illegals are using legal numbers? Maybe if some obvious problems show up, like a person having 22 reported jobs at once, but beyond that good luck to these politicians and pundits out looking to score easy points.

Besides if this is really about goosing the economy wouldn't illegals be just as inclined to pump money into the economy? Why get caught up on a situation you can do little about in a short period of time if one believes sending out these rebates is so important?

Very good post...I have Many stories I can tell from my employees....Many that would shock Most of the posters...


Never did I hire an Illegal... but I probably hired 100+ that had legal SS cards that were at least 10 years old.....