Wednesday, February 11, 2015

IRS to pay refunds to illegal immigrants who didn’t pay taxes

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress on Wednesday that even illegal immigrants who didn’t pay taxes will be able to claim back-refunds once they get Social Security numbers under President Obama’s temporary deportation amnesty.

Read the rest here.

Contrary to possible appearances, given the last several days' postings,  I am not trying to give the Anti-Gnostic a stroke. It is purely coincidental that the idiocy has been gaining momentum of late and is being duly passed along here.

2 comments:

The Anti-Gnostic said...

Work hard, pay taxes and fund transfer payments to your cheaper replacements.

This doesn't end well.

Greg DeLassus said...

Three responses:

(1) This story is evidently a few days old, and yet it has only been reported by the Washington Times. FOX has repeated the WT coverage, but I cannot seem to find any other coverage of this story. This rather calls the factual accuracy of the story into question.

(2) Assuming, nevertheless, that the story is accurate, the linked article is about EITC refunds. For the most part, the EITC goes to parents of dependent children. Given that many illegal immigrants are the parents of US citizens, the idea is not quite so outrageous as it sounds at first telling. The headline could just as easily read "IRS spokesman announces that tax credits will go to parents of US children, even when the parents lack legal status."

(3) With that said, while I am strongly in favor of the President's executive action, I would be appalled to think that we are giving tax credits to illegal immigrants where no US children are involved (and it is possible to qualify for the EITC without children). That said, if the Congress really is opposed to such an outcome, they have it in their power to do something about it any time they like. It is called legislating. They have proven largely averse to the process in recent years, but they might actually try working with the White House to pass a bill to close this loophole. There is, after all, no indication that the White House favors extending the EITC to deferred action illegal immigrants.