Illegal Immigrants Filing Income Tax Returns
By speakeasy
@speakeasy (4171)
United States
April 16, 2007 2:53pm CST
Frankly, when I saw this in the news today, I was dumbfounded.
How can people who are in this country legally file taxes? After all, isn't that one of the reasons we do not want illegal immigrants here? If they are filing income tax returns what do they hope to get from it?
What I discovered was:
1) You do not need to be in this country legally or be legally earning money to file income taxes. Anyone can be issued a "individual taxpayer Identification number" ITIN by the IRS.
2) Even if you used a stolen Social Security number to get work, as long as the name on the W-2 is the same as the one on the ITIN, they can file the W-2 they got from their employer and the earnings will be transferred to their ITIN.
3) If they obtain an ITIN for dependents residing outside of the US, they can count them as dependants on their tax forms and get the corresponding deductions and tax credits.
4) Even though they KNOW the majority of ITINs are issued to illegal immigrants (and the people using someone else's Social Security # are guilty of Identity Theft); the IRS is not PERMITTED to report these criminals to ANYONE; not the person whose identity they are using, not immigration, not Homeland Security, NO ONE.
5) Someone has been spreading word that the new immigration bill, that is going to go through Congress in the next couple of months, will be granting AMNESTY based on whether or not illegal immigrants have been paying their taxes!
The illegal immigrants who are filing their taxes are not doing so because it is what they are supposed to do. They are filing tax reports for two reasons:
a) So they can get back money that was deducted from their pay by unsuspecting employers.
b) Because they believe it wil ENTITLE them to amnesty.
It is good that they are paying taxes; but, in my opinion, that does not entitle them to amnesty. They are "picking and choosing" WHICH laws they want to obey. If they really wanted to be "law-abiding citizens"; they would go home and not break ANY of our laws. They are just trying to get as much as possible OUT of our country.
What do you think about this?
3 people like this
1 response
@judyt00 (3497)
• Canada
16 Apr 07
Gee, you just can't win, can you? you complain the they should be sent home because they won't pay taxes or buy health care, and when they do that you still complain. Lets face it, you just don't want any 'dirty Mexican' in YOUR country. I'd like to point out the many of those illegal immigrants had ancestors in places like texas, california, and arizona who were kicked off their land illegally, and sent south, by whites because THEY thought they should be ableto do whatever the hell they wanted. Discrimination is alive and well and living in the US
2 people like this
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
16 Apr 07
I admit it, I am prejudiced against ANYONE from ANY country who comes to the US ILLEGALLY, no matter WHAT country they come from: Mexico, China, Ecuador, Poland, Russia, etc. etc. I am also prejudiced against criminals in our country; whether they are here legally or not, UNTIL they have done their time and changed their behavior.
I really do not care what country they originated from as long as they, their parents, grandparents, etc. came here legally. My mother-in-law came to the US LEGALLY at age 8. My father-in-law is first generation American after his parents LEGALLY immigrated to the US. My family has been around a lot longer and I haven't taken the time to find out exactly when they came here.
Too many people have waited their turn and done what was needed to come here LEGALLY or are STILL waiting their chance to come here legally. Why should we allow people who are already breaking our laws on a daily basis to go ahead of them and have a chance at citizenship?
1 person likes this
@Nebuloso (179)
• United States
17 Apr 07
Judy, two points that I take exception to:
1) You said: "you complain the they should be sent home because they won't pay taxes or buy healthcare, and when they do that you still complain."
Your profile says you're from Canada, so perhaps you aren't that familiar with the US income tax system. It is entirely possible - if your income is low enough - to get back FAR more money from filing a return than you ever paid into the system. I know this from firsthand experience.
2) You said: "...many of those illegal immigrants had ancestors in places like Texas, California, and Arizona who were kicked off their land illegally..."
Illegally how, exactly? The majority of that land was won in wars. The rest of it was bought and paid for (e.g. The Gadsden Purchase). I don't see the illegality of either transfer of land. If aquiring land as a result of winning a war is illegal, then there are a LOT of international boundries that need to be redrawn - including those of Canada. If memory serves, when the first explorers came to the great snowy north, the native inhabitants weren't speaking either English or French...
@judyt00 (3497)
• Canada
17 Apr 07
So, you think that just because the land was bought from one country by another, or won in a war, that gives the right to the new leaders to kick the people already living there off the land. if that was the case, most of Europe would be owned by Canadians and Americans. Or is that only so for non whites in the US. And for your info, many natives still don't speak english or french in Canada.
