Unless you are one of Obama’s bootlickers in the Senate, you probably are under the impression that Obama’s executive amnesty is a bad idea even if, like me, you are somewhat squishy on the issue of immigration itself. But however bad you thought it was that Obama is seeking to unilaterally rewriting a law that is constitutionally within the exclusive purview of Congress, you will think this is much worse: the IRS has decided to allow illegal immigrants who receive social security numbers under the executive amnesty to get checks from the IRS for the earned income tax credit (EITC) for the last three years EVEN IF THEY DIDN’T FILE OR PAY TAXES FOR THOSE YEARS.
The IRS is defending its decision to let illegal immigrants claim up to three years’ refunds on income even if they never paid income taxes, telling Congress
in a new letter last week that agency lawyers have concluded getting a Social Security number triggers the ability to go back and ask for previous refunds.
President Obama’s new deportation amnesty could grant Social Security numbers to as many as 4 million illegal immigrants, making many of them eligible for tax refunds under the Earned Income
“Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code requires an SSN on the return, but a taxpayer claiming the EITC is not required to have an SSN before the close of the year for which the EITC is claimed,” IRS
Just for reference, three years of the EITC, depending on family size, could total up to $18,000. Presumably, the entire amount would not be refundable since in order to earn the max credit you have to make enough money that they will deduct some but many of the folks who will be qualified under the executive amnesty to receive amnesty will also receive a free check for thousands of dollars from Uncle Sam as a “refund” on taxes they never filed nor paid.
As Guy Benson noted at Townhall last month when IRS Commissioner and Crypt Keeper look-alike Koskinen first announced this program:
Step one: Violate the laws and sovereignty of the United States of America by entering the country illegally. Step two: Find work and get paid (often off the books). Step three: Receive “deportation relief,” a work permit and a Social Security Number, courtesy of the president’s unilateral policy decree. Step four: Instantly become eligible for hefty future and back tax credits — ie, checks cut directly to people with no tax liability, in many cases — all courtesy of American taxpayers. Even to a pro-DREAM Act, pro-reform squish like myself, this is completely indefensible. Our own Conn Carroll, it must be said, saw this coming a few months back. He noted at the time that even though illegal immigrants already collect smaller tax credits ($4 billion from the Additional Child Tax Credit in 2011 alone), the EITC is a much bigger program involving a much deeper pot of money. Some Republican Senators are blasting this scheme as tantamount to an “amnesty bonus,” and if you believe Koskinen, the White House apparently didn’t bother to ask how the president’s power grab might open a fire-hose of new benefits for illegal immigrants via the tax code. Think about that. Then again, they probably don’t see it as a problem at all. Remember, Obama’s Attorney General nominee recently asserted that non-citizens have the “right” to work in the US. The IRS can’t say how much this little wrinkle will cost taxpayers, but Conn’s back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest we could be looking at tens of billions in back payments over the past three years alone.
If the GOP Congress will not draw a line here, they will never draw a line anywhere. I don’t care if DHS has to be shut down indefinitely. This blatant lawbreaking cannot be allowed to stand by anyone who has taken an oath to support the Constitution and to faithfully execute the laws of this country. And if they can’t explain to ordinary Americans why this, of all things, illustrates that executive amnesty is a hill to die on for American taxpayers then they aren’t politicians worthy of the name.
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