One of the major talking points from the Gang of Eight before they released their \u201ccomprehensive\u201d immigration reform bill was that amnestied illegal aliens would be required to pay back taxes in order to receive legal status\u2014\u201cregistered provisional immigrant\u201d (RPI) status. However, as many Americans now know, such a requirement is not actually contained in the 1,000 plus page bill.<\/p>\n
Rather, the Gang of Eight gives illegal aliens a free pass for not paying taxes, whereas U.S. citizens and legal immigrants committing the same offense face jail time and hefty fines. Under current law, any person \u201cwho willfully fails to pay\u201d taxes owed are guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, face a fine up to $25,000, imprisonment not more than one year, or both. (26 U.S.C. 7203) And, any person who \u201cwillfully attempts in any manner to evade\u201d taxes are guilty of a felony<\/span> and upon conviction, face a fine up to $100,000, imprisonment not more than five years, or both. (26 U.S.C. 7201)<\/p>\n So will illegal aliens be subject to these same penalties as Americans if they\u2019ve failed to pay taxes? Not under the Gang of Eight\u2019s amnesty bill. Under their amnesty legislation, illegal aliens only need to pay taxes \u201cassessed\u201d to qualify for RPI status. But \u201ctaxes assessed\u201d are of course different from \u201ctaxes owed.\u201d\u00a0Taxes assessed requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to either affirmatively record an individual\u2019s owed taxes, or actually audit an individual. Accordingly, under the Gang of Eight bill, the issue of whether illegal aliens will actually have pay back taxes is left up to the discretion of the IRS to figure out at a later date\u2014if at all. (See <\/i>FAIR Legislative Update<\/a>, Apr. 29, 2013)<\/p>\n While the federal government routinely uses its broad authority to prosecute U.S. taxpayers who violate our tax laws, illegal aliens who have unlawfully worked in the U.S. will continue to get a free pass if the Senate passes the Gang of Eight\u2019s amnesty bill. Thus, although U.S. taxpayers must pay back taxes; penalties; fines; interest; and potentially jail time, the Gang of Eight essentially grants illegal aliens blanket amnesty for violations of tax law.