A new estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation puts the cost of Obama’s unilateral amnesty at $1.7 billion over the next ten years in just Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) for illegals.
Obama’s amnesty will include the ability for illegals who have been working in the United States over the past three years to file amended tax returns using their new Social Security numbers and claim the EITC.
EITC is a refundable federal tax credit given to low-income workers to encourage employment. Millions of low-income taxpayers use EITC to essentially pay no income tax.
Members of Congress are trying to close this loophole.
“Those who were working illegally in the United States shouldn’t be rewarded for doing so,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement to McClatchy. “That would have the effect of allowing retroactive benefits.
Currently, legal immigrants can amend tax returns if their immigration status changes. However,
Grassley maintains Congress explicitly closed this avenue to undocumented workers in 1996 and argues that this is being ignored by the IRS.
Undocumented workers presumably have been working off the books or with falsified documents. They will have to present proof that they were paid or were self-employed over the previous three years. If they were using a false taxpayer ID number, they could now amend returns for the past three years and plug in their new Social Security number.
The IRS could audit these returns to guard against fraud, but because the tax returns involve very low income levels, the IRS would not get much bang for the buck with such audits.
It’s bad enough Obama is allowing millions to get away with breaking American immigration law but now he’s adding an easy way for them to pick the pocket of the American taxpayer.
