US Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, wants to end the practice of giving illegal immigrants tax credits for kids, but U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev, won’t let the House-approved measure H.R. 556 through the Senate. "The System is Working Fine" says Senator Harry Reid, even though the Joint Committee on Taxation calculates that enactment of H.R. 556 would save taxpayers $24.4 billion over the next decade.
The House of Representatives repeatedly has passed an IRS bill that could save U.S. taxpayers up to $24.4 billion over the next 10 years — but Harry Reid’s Democratic Senate will not hear it.
The Refundable Child Tax Credit Eligibility Verification Reform Act, or H.R. 556, would require tax filers to provide Social Security numbers to claim child tax credits. Currently, the IRS allows undocumented residents to collect the $1,000 credits for dependents not even living in the country.
Watchdog reported that illegal immigrants received $4.2 billion from the tax agency in just one year. “My bill (targets) billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. Instead of hitting up taxpayers for even more taxes, Washington needs to go after these billions of dollars,” said Rep. Johnson, R-Texas.
Though the GOP-controlled House has passed Johnson’s measure three times, Senate Majority Leader Reid, D-Nev., refuses to allow the bill to come up for a vote in his chamber. “The IRS has been doling out the credit to tax filers claiming children who do not even live in the country,” Johnson charged.
Now the new GOP budget proposal increases the child tax credit.