Hatch to Examine How $4.2 Billion in Refundable Tax Credits Went to Illegal Aliens

Treasury IG Report Found Number Increased Four Fold from Five Years Ago

SALT LAKE CITY – U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, announced today that he will be examining how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gave $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits last year to illegal aliens – four times the amount from five years ago. 

The information was released today in a report issued by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration.  The Finance Committee has jurisdiction over all tax policy, the IRS and the Department of Treasury. 

“The disconcerting findings in this report demand immediate attention and action from Congress and the Obama Administration,” said Hatch.  “With our debt standing at over $14.5 trillion and counting, it’s outrageous that the IRS is handing out refundable tax credits, which are spending through the tax code, to those who aren’t even eligible to work in this country.   I will be looking at this as soon as Congress returns next week.”

The report found that: 

• “Although the law prohibits aliens residing without authorization in the United States from receiving most Federal public benefits, an increasing number of these individuals are filing tax returns claiming the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), a refundable tax credit intended for working families.”
 
• $4.2 billion in refundable credits were paid to individuals not authorized to work in the United States in Processing Year 2010.

• “[T]he 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.”

###

• Print
• Email
• Tweet