Child tax credit for illegal workers

[Robby999 1,024]

Illegal Workers Used Tax Credit to Pocket $4.2 Billion, Audit Shows

Published September 02, 2011

| FoxNews.com

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Shown here is a 1040 individual tax return.

Talk about a tax loophole.

Undocumented workers collected $4.2 billion in a certain tax credit last year, up from less than $1 billion five years ago, according to a new audit.

The report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration looked only at a tax benefit known as the Additional Child Tax Credit, a refundable credit meant for working families. The audit found that as a result of vague U.S. law -- as well as an expansion of the tax credit in stimulus legislation and other measures -- the number of illegal workers collecting the money has skyrocketed.

Related StoriesEmployers Add Zero Net Jobs in August, Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 9.1 PercentBad Jobs Report Adds More Baggage to Obama SpeechJob Growth Comes to a Screeching Halt The inspector general's office expressed concern about the trend and urged the IRS and Treasury Department to determine once and for all whether that money should be paid out.

"The payment of federal funds through this tax benefit appears to provide an additional incentive for aliens to enter, reside and work in the United States without authorization, which contradicts federal law and policy to remove such incentives," the report said.

The report highlighted a quirk in U.S. law. Even people who are not authorized to work are supposed to pay the IRS taxes on their income. Many of those people cannot obtain a Social Security number, so to facilitate this the IRS hands out what are known as Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers -- so illegal workers can file returns. However, in doing so many of those workers are claiming tax benefits like the Additional Child Tax Credit. For some, it's a way of making even more money.

"Refundable credits can result in refunds even if no income tax is withheld or paid," the report noted.

The Additional Child Tax Credit is an offshoot of another tax credit worth up to $1,000 per child. Restrictions for the tax credits were loosened in 2001, and eligibility was temporarily increased by the 2009 stimulus bill.

"As such, more taxpayers could claim the ACTC or claim a greater amount," the report said. The inspector general's office said 2.3 million undocumented filers claimed the credit in 2010, adding up to $4.2 billion worth of refunds.

Not all immigrants who are unauthorized to work are necessarily illegal immigrants. However, any legal immigrant who works without authorization would be in violation of his or her immigration status.

The report said that if the administration determines the credits should not be paid in the future, then the IRS needs the authority to stop them.

According to the audit, the IRS agreed with that recommendation.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.c.../#ixzz1WqGu9es6

[Obama 2012 1,714]

if true, the messed up part about it, is they did it with STOLEN Social Security #'s.

The trash should be in prison!!!

[웃 910]

But, but, but, illegals are paid under the table in cash.

They, they, they don't have fake social security numbers and fake green cards.

They don't file taxes.

Low level hiring managers that make $12 an hour that have no connection/incentive/affiliation with company profits and ownership are the ones breaking the law by hiring illegals and risking their job paying them secretly under the table.

That's, that's, that's why illegals are hired. Cause they are paid under the table with no benefits and at a fraction of the price of a legal worker.

Edited September 3, 2011 by Lord Infamous

[웃 910]

if true, the messed up part about it, is they did it with STOLEN Social Security #'s.

The trash should be in prison!!!

I know my opinion (from actual communications/experiences with illegals) is worthless around here.

But having a STOLEN social is going to draw attention. How long can you go with another person's social security number without that person finding out and notifying the authorities? In a worst case scenario it would take me 12 months.

It is the exact opposite of what an illegal wants to happen.

I think the numbers are fake (but are workable) in the majority of cases.

The illegals I know of have worked their jobs for years and years.

I don't think it would be possible if they had stolen socials. They'd be busted so fast it wouldn't even be funny.

Edited September 3, 2011 by Lord Infamous

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I know my opinion (from actual communications/experiences with illegals) is worthless around here.

But having a STOLEN social is going to draw attention. How long can you go with another person's social security number without that person finding out and notifying the authorities? In a worst case scenario it would take me 12 months.

It is the exact opposite of what an illegal wants to happen.

I think the numbers are fake (but are workable) in the majority of cases.

The illegals I know of have worked their jobs for years and years.

I don't think it would be possible if they had stolen socials. They'd be busted so fast it wouldn't even be funny.

actually, once you have a Social Security card, you can get a birth certificate and anything else you long for/desire. It's not hard AT ALL. It's really scary at the end of the day what people get by with every day.

[dalegg 143]

California just passed the dream act funding illegals' higher education. What the hell? We've got all this extra money, so why not, right?

I think today is officially the day we lost California for good.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

California just passed the dream act funding illegals' higher education. What the hell? We've got all this extra money, so why not, right?

I think today is officially the day we lost California for good.

California's economy would for certain be lost without all the undocumented workers. They consume and pay taxes just everybody else.

[lostinblue 1,989]

California's economy would for certain be lost without all the undocumented workers. They consume and pay taxes just everybody else.

California Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in California peaked in December 2010 at 2,272,547. There are now 105,405 fewer people unemployed in the state. From a recent trough of 2,115,705 in May 2011, the number of unemployed has now grown by 51,437. California job growth data is also available.

Unemployed Persons July 2011 Month/Month Year/Year

California 2,167,142 +34,422 -85,266

http://www.deptofnumbers.com/unemployment/california/http://www.laalmanac.com/immigration/im04a.htm

Illegal Immigrants in California and Los Angeles County

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics (DHS), an

estimated 2,600,000 illegal immigrants resided in California in 2009

You liberals cannot see the connection?

We need operation wetback version 2 send them all packing and put americans back to work

[one...two...tree 2,762]

California Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in California peaked in December 2010 at 2,272,547. There are now 105,405 fewer people unemployed in the state. From a recent trough of 2,115,705 in May 2011, the number of unemployed has now grown by 51,437. California job growth data is also available.

What? You're going to blame high unemployment on the underclass? How quaint of you.

[lostinblue 1,989]

What? You're going to blame high unemployment on the underclass? How quaint of you.

State Police searching for Illegal immigrant wanted for Rape of 6 year-old

http://www.thetimesofwaynecounty.com/news/state-police-searching-for-illegal-immigrant-wanted-for-rape-of-6-year-old-girl/

DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Sheriff's deputies arrested an illegal immigrant Friday in the rape of a 3-year-old girl

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/news/27323498/detail.html#ixzz1WsS3NjhS

Illegal immigrant pleads guilty to rape of 12-year-old

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9006963

Investigators: Edmonds rape suspect deported nine times

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Investigators-Edmonds-rape-suspect-deported-nine-times-94637479.html

A pair of illegal immigrants raped a 14-year-old Texas girl at July 4th party in Texas, where the teen was later found sitting naked in a bathtub, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2551791/posts

Police: Illegal immigrant raped 76-year-oldPolice: Illegal immigrant raped 76-year-old

http://www.dailycommercial.com/011410rape

ON AND ON AND ON and crime also....

[dalegg 143]

California's economy would for certain be lost without all the undocumented workers. They consume and pay taxes just everybody else.

Dude, seriously give me a break. This is wrong. They don't pay even a fraction in taxes compared to what they consume. Are you blind? You live in California and you cannot see the damage that taking on expenses for an ever growing class of people who pay very little into the system is doing?

This is why this state is lost. Your party lives in fantasy land and doesn't know how to work a calculator.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Dude, seriously give me a break. This is wrong. They don't pay even a fraction in taxes compared to what they consume. Are you blind? You live in California and you cannot see the damage that taking on expenses for an ever growing class of people who pay very little into the system is doing?

This is why this state is lost. Your party lives in fantasy land and doesn't know how to work a calculator. Maybe you can explain specifically they are costing more to the state than they contribute?

What calculator are you using? State revenue comes from income and sales taxes. Unless they are working under the table, they're paying state income tax. When they buy something, they are paying taxes.

from USA Today:

Many illegal immigrants pay up at tax time

The agency estimates that for 2005, the last year for which figures are available, about $9 billion in taxes was paid on about $75 billion in wages from people who filed W2 forms with incorrect or mismatched data, which would include illegal immigrants who drew paychecks under fake names and Social Security numbers.

Spokesman Mark Hinkle says Social Security does not know how much of the $9 billion can be attributed to illegal immigrants. The number is certainly not 100%, but a significant portion probably comes from taxes paid by illegal immigrants.

Nine billion dollars sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but it is only about 1.5% of the total $593 billion paid into Social Security in 2005.

The impact on Social Security is significant, though, because most of that money is never claimed by the people who pay it but instead helps cover retirement checks to legal workers.

Federal law prohibits paying Social Security to illegal immigrants, but the administration factors in both legal and illegal immigration when projecting the trust fund's long-term solvency.

This is especially important as the 78 million-member baby boom generation begins to leave the workforce and draw Social Security checks.

"Overall, any type of immigration is a net positive to Social Security. The more people working and paying into the system, the better," Hinkle said. "It does help the system remain solvent."

The Social Security Administration drew from census and Immigration and Customs Enforcement data in 2007 to project the effects of higher and lower immigration patterns.

If net immigration is high at 1.3 million people a year, the SSA's combined trust fund would be exhausted in 2043. But the fund runs out four years earlier if annual net immigration amounts to about half that — 472,500 legal immigrants and 250,000 illegal immigrants.

The Internal Revenue Service doesn't have an estimate of how many illegal immigrants pay income tax.

But one indicator is the 9 million W-2 forms with mismatched names and Social Security numbers it received in 2004. The IRS said the W-2 forms with invalid Social Security numbers reported about $53 billion in wages and about three-fourths of that, $40 billion in wages, had taxes withheld.

The IRS also has been issuing Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs, for 12 years to foreigners without a Social Security number. It's believed that many workers who seek the ITINs are in the country illegally, and the IRS reported that there were 2.5 million tax returns filed with an ITIN in 2004.

In 2006, then IRS Commission Mark Everson told Congress that "many illegal aliens, utilizing ITINs, have been reporting tax liability to the tune of almost $50 billion from 1996 to 2003."

http://www.usatoday....antstaxes_N.htm

[one...two...tree 2,762]

State Police searching for Illegal immigrant wanted for Rape of 6 year-old

Ah, more propaganda.

"It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise."

— Joseph Goebbels

[dalegg 143]

What calculator are you using? State revenue comes from income and sales taxes. Unless they are working under the table, they're paying state income tax. When they buy something, they are paying taxes.

from USA Today:

http://www.usatoday....antstaxes_N.htm

Where in this article does it state anything about the taxes they pay being enough to support all government benefits they receive?

California spends about $10,000 per year per student in just public education. Are you going to attempt to tell me that illegal immigrants pay $10,000 a year in state taxes? My wife earned about $40,000 last year and her state taxes amounted to $620.00 claiming zero dependants, so it's a good bet your average illegal is paying less than that. If the average illegal made so $30,000 and and actually spent every bit of it and actually paid 8% sales tax on every dollar they made, well that would be another $2400.

See the way the calculator works is this:

Expenses =$10,000

Revenue = $3,400

Deficit $6,600.

Do this times a million. And this is only the cost of public education. Obviously this is a bit simplistic because all illegal immigrants don't have children in schools, but given the fact that there are other expenses, it doesn't add up. Not by a long shot.

So to you, there is no negative affect to illegal immigration? So maybe we are all just imagining that California has a problem right? Because surely if illegal immigrants are paying their fair share, then all legal citizens must be paying their fair share as well. So in our fantasy world, we have enough revenue to pay for all of our expenses and we don't have a problem.

Or maybe it's that the rich aren't paying their fair share..oh wait, they put their children in private schools so they don't rely on public education, not that they don't pay for it, so hmm, that can't be it.... Maybe there actually is a problem? Maybe???

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Where in this article does it state anything about the taxes they pay being enough to support all government benefits they receive?

California spends about $10,000 per year per student in just public education. Are you going to attempt to tell me that illegal immigrants pay $10,000 a year in state taxes? My wife earned about $40,000 last year and her state taxes amounted to $620.00 claiming zero dependants, so it's a good bet your average illegal is paying less than that. If the average illegal made so $30,000 and and actually spent every bit of it and actually paid 8% sales tax on every dollar they made, well that would be another $2400.

See the way the calculator works is this:

Expenses =$10,000

Revenue = $3,400

Deficit $6,600.

Do this times a million. And this is only the cost of public education. Obviously this is a bit simplistic because all illegal immigrants don't have children in schools, but given the fact that there are other expenses, it doesn't add up. Not by a long shot.

So to you, there is no negative affect to illegal immigration? So maybe we are all just imagining that California has a problem right? Because surely if illegal immigrants are paying their fair share, then all legal citizens must be paying their fair share as well. So in our fantasy world, we have enough revenue to pay for all of our expenses and we don't have a problem.

Or maybe it's that the rich aren't paying their fair share..oh wait, they put their children in private schools so they don't rely on public education, not that they don't pay for it, so hmm, that can't be it.... Maybe there actually is a problem? Maybe???

Okay, how is the cost to benefit ratio any different for documented vs. undocumented workers?

California ranked 46th in per pupil spending in 2006-07

What you're really arguing is that kids in general cost the state to educate, but the logic behind that is that those students will grow up to be working adults and paying into the system. It's no different from the fact that you and I are paying for retirees right now with idea that by the time we retire, our children will be paying for ours. Trying to single out undocumented workers as having a different cost to benefit ratio from USC or permanent residents has no logic. If you are trying to say that they add to a population and that California's economic problems have to do with too many people in the state, that doesn't hold water either. Prior to the Recession, California's economy was something like the 5th largest in the world. It didn't get that way from trying enforce population controls. Undocumented workers are part of that economy and have been for a long time.