Illegal immigrants who are able to obtain Social Security Numbers and work permits as a result of President Obama’s executive amnesty could claim tens of thousands of dollars in back tax benefits, a new Congressional Research Service memo obtained first by Breitbart News reveals.
The report comes following the Internal Revenue Service’s confirmation that once illegal immigrants are granted Social Security Numbers — as a result of Obama’s executive actions — they will be able to file back tax returns and obtain up to four years of tax benefits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC).
The new CRS report — dated Wednesday and requested to gauge the tax benefits an amnesty beneficiary could potentially accrue — looks at the amount of EITC and CTC for a hypothetical family from from 2011-2014.
“Specifically, you were interested in the value of these credits for a married couple with three and four children,” the memo details. “In addition, you requested that for every year, the family’s income be equal to the maximum amount of earnings a taxpayer could have and still receive the maximum amount of the EITC. This income level is often referred to as the ‘phase-out threshold amount’ and is adjusted annually for inflation.”
CRS calculated the maximum level of tax credits available to hypothetical families with three and four children. It found that for a family with three children in the four years from 2011-2014 “phase-out threshold amount” would be able to obtain $35,521 in the EITC and CTC.
A family of four in that same four year time frame and circumstance could obtain $35,560.
In those years considered, the “phase-out threshold amount” for both hypothetical families was $21,770 in 2011, $22,300 in 2012, $22,870 in 2013, and $23,260 in 2014.
Both hypothetical families were also able to amass around $9,000 worth of the EITC and CTC annually in the years CRS considered.
The report comes as lawmakers have expressed distress that amnestied illegal immigrants could be potentially rewarded for illegal work and as Congress debates a Department of Homeland Security funding bill that would block Obama’s executive amnesty.
Earlier this month Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) pressed the administration on the tax benefits amnestied illegal immigrants could accrue, calling the expected refunds “amnesty bonuses.”
“This is basic economics: if you want more of something, you subsidize it. By subsidizing illegal entry with four years’ worth of new tax credits, the IRS would promote lawlessness,” Sasse said in a statement at the time. “This program severely undermines the White House’s lip-service to enforcing the law and would increase the burden on law-abiding taxpayers.”
Read the whole thing:
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.