If there’s one government authority, the very mention of which, sends chills down the spines of most Americans it is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Most Americans would sooner submit to a root canal than face and IRS audit. However, to many illegal aliens, the IRS is just one more government agency that turns a blind eye to their illegal behavior.
According to the report released today by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General (IG), tax filers using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) milked the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) for $4.2 billion last year (up from $924 million in 2005) thanks in large measure to advocacy groups that counsel illegal aliens. The vast majority of ITIN filers are illegal aliens. The ACTC is a tax credit intended to help low income working Americans with dependent children.
The IG report finds that illegal aliens disproportionally benefit from the ACTC, even though, in the IG’s opinion, ITIN filers should not even be eligible for the credit. Fourteen percent of tax filers using Social Security numbers claimed the ACTC, while 72 percent of ITIN filers claimed the credit. The IRS has no real way of verifying claims that ITIN filers have dependent children in their home countries.
“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,” states the report. Moreover, the IG report notes numerous examples of the IRS refusing to take action against ITIN filers who claim tax credits to which they are not entitled.
The same report also faults the IRS for failing to notify and protect citizens who have had their Social Security Numbers and identities stolen by illegal aliens. Even when the IRS has found compelling evidence that Social Security numbers are being used fraudulently, the IRS has failed to act, or even make unsuspecting Americans aware that their identities have been compromised.