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Penalizing the immigrants won't work, especially considering many nonresidents likely don't pay or file income taxes at all.
Each spring, at tax preparation offices all across the nation, many illegal immigrants are now eagerly filing tax returns to take advantage of a tax loophole, using their ITIN numbers to get huge refunds from the IRS.
The loophole is called the Additional Child Tax Credit. It's a fully-refundable credit of up to $1000 per child, and it's meant to help working families who have children living at home.
But 13 Investigates has found many undocumented workers are claiming the tax credit for kids who live in Mexico – lots of kids in Mexico.
"We've seen sometimes 10 or 12 dependents, most times nieces and nephews, on these tax forms," the whistleblower told Eyewitness News. "The more you put on there, the more you get back."
The whistleblower has thousands of examples, and he brought some of them to 13 Investigates. While identifying information such as names and addresses on the tax returns was redacted, it was still clear that the tax filers had received large tax refunds after claiming additional child tax credits for many dependents.
"Here's a return right here: we've got a $10,3000 refund for nine nieces and nephews," he said, pointing to the words "niece" and "nephew" listed on the tax forms nine separate times.
"We're getting an $11,000 refund on this tax return. There's seven nieces and nephews," he said, pointing to another set of documents. "I can bring out stacks and stacks. It's just so easy it's ridiculous."
20 kids = $30,000
WTHR spoke to several undocumented workers who confirmed it is easy.
The bill would stipulate that only Americans or legal immigrants with work-authorized Social Security numbers can claim child tax credits, earned income tax credits, and other tax credits. Current law states that only a child needs a Social Security number, not the parent receiving the child tax credit, creating a perverse incentive where illegal alien parents can earn tax credits that only Americans are supposed to utilize. Inhofe’s legislation would require that parents have a work-authorized Social Security number to receive the tax credits, meaning that only legal immigrants and American can receive the benefits.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/06/exclusive-sen-jim-inhofe-introduces-bill-build-wall-paid-mexico/