Posted on 02/01/2002 10:47:45 PM PST by Bayou City
Feb. 1, 2002, 9:48PM
Workers hope IRS has their number
Undocumented immigrants sign up for tax rolls
By EDWARD HEGSTROM
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
CONROE -- The overflow crowd stretched out the church door and into the parking lot, where the line formed for hundreds of illegal immigrants hoping to become legal U.S. taxpayers.
After a wait outside of an hour or more, participants at the seminar this week filled out a government form, presented their Mexican or Central American identification and then met with an IRS agent.
Nearly 500 signed up for the document known as an individual taxpayer identification number after being assured their information would not be shared with immigration agents.
Some in line said they hope paying taxes legally would be the first step of legalizing their U.S. stay. Others say taxes are already taken automatically from their paycheck, and they hope to get some back through a refund check.
"I want to be recognized," said one Spanish-speaking woman who identified herself only as a clerk. "I've been paying taxes for three years."
With 7 million to 8 million people now working illegally in this country, the Internal Revenue Service has quietly begun trying to register them as taxpayers.
Since 1996, the government has offered a taxpayer ID number to anyone who cannot obtain a Social Security number -- typically because they are working in the country illegally.
Local IRS agents now offer grants and seminars designed to get illegal immigrants officially registered on the tax rolls.
"The more of these we do, the more people come in," said IRS representative Leandro Leon, who has organized the seminars promoted by Spanish-language television and held at churches that attract Latin American immigrants. "I guess people are losing their fear of the INS."
Houston is not the only city with a surge in applications. The IRS reports that 5.3 million people have obtained a taxpayer ID number since 1996, though officials cannot say how many are illegal immigrants (foreigners living overseas who file U.S. taxes use the same type of ID number).
Not all the immigrant outreach is so amicable. Some illegal immigrants say the IRS has aggressively attempted to collect back taxes.
IRS representatives defend their efforts to enroll undocumented workers without reporting them to immigration authorities. They say their mandate is to collect the taxes from those who work rather than to determine who has the right to work.
"One requirement of the tax law is that people have to report their taxes, even if the money comes illegally," said Don Roberts, an IRS spokesman in Washington. "A person could report millions of dollars from drug dealing and we can't share that information with the DEA."
Congress set up the law so taxpayers who accurately report their income to the IRS can be assured the information will never be shared with other government agencies. Even law-abiding citizens would be reluctant to report their income if that information could be passed around among bureaucrats in Washington, Roberts reasons.
But critics say the taxpayer ID number system clearly indicates the government is no longer interested in enforcing immigration laws.
"It doesn't make sense," said Roy Beck, head of Numbers USA, a group that opposes high immigration levels. "The federal government is saying: "You are breaking the law and shouldn't be working, but now that you are working, we will give you this number that makes it easier for you to work.' "
A person cannot legally work in the United States without a Social Security card. But that doesn't stop millions from working anyway.
Some illegal immigrants are paid in cash never reported to the government. But perhaps millions of others obtain false Social Security cards or borrow others' Social Security numbers. Employers sometimes pay taxes on these workers' earnings.
The proliferation of false Social Security numbers frustrates the government tax people.
"We kept finding cases like the 90-year-old woman listed as working as a stevedore at the Port of Houston," said Leon.
No one knows how much immigrants pay in taxes every year, though plenty of experts have tried to guess.
A few years ago, retired Rice University professor Donald Huddle found in a study for a conservative group that immigrants cost the government $69 billion a year because they use more in services than they pay in taxes.
Liberal groups attacked Huddle's oft-quoted study as inaccurate and based on false assumptions. Urban Institute demographer Jeff Passel found a different answer.
"If you look at this in terms of a lifetime, an immigrant contributes more than he or she uses," Passel said. "But in the short run, there are costs."
That's a sentiment shared by Alejandro, an undocumented carpenter from rural Fort Bend County with a wife and two kids who pays $185 in IRS back taxes every month. The Mexican native, who won't give his last name, says he was approached on the job a few years ago by government agents wondering why he had a false Social Security number.
The IRS now calculates Alejandro owes about $4,000, according to documents. He is dutifully paying the money, he says.
Alejandro said he gets angry every time he sees American politicians arguing on Spanish-language TV that immigrants don't pay taxes.
"We come here to work. We don't come here to be fed," he said.
Yes he was! More and more people are beginning to realize that now. I just hope it's not too late, because I just don't see Bush or any other politician clamoring for closing the border or deporting the zillions of illegals already here.
We must keep contacting our elected idiots and demand that social services to illegals be stopped immediately.
Very insightful Mulder. I agree, that is the game that is being played RIGHT NOW.
I pray that you're right on this!
The bad news is that most of us don't realize (or simply refuse to accept) the depth and the magnitude of the treason and the damage that has already been done.
The good news is that more Patriots are starting to wake up to what is happening. They are very serious about what they may have to do to defend Freedom.
The tyrants are on offense right now, so the ball is in their court. They would like to see the Constitution destroyed tomorrow, but they realize that acting that quickly would precipate a response with they could not control-- a response with would result in their defeat. The critical variable is the speed at which the tyrants cross the line.
If done too quickly, they lose and we win. If done slowly, they will probably win as the immigrants take over and the Vietnam-era generation of Patriots gets too old to do much about it. Patience has never been a virtue of tyrants (from King Herod to King George). The lack of that trait may very well do them in, so there is hope yet for our side.
I never thought I would live to see the day that the U.S. would be in such a sad state of affairs. But it is here.
Can you say TREASON?
I have never gone this far before but I think you are right. After reading hundreds of articles on immigration I see a very clear pattern of our government allowing illegals to break our laws and then reward them for doing so.
The sad part of this is, I don't see any reversal in this trend. Bush, Powell, and Ziglar seem to be hell bent on leading us down the path of destruction. If amnesty, in any form, is granted before the 2004 elections, you can close the door and turn out the lights. The party is over.
The IRS goes into a church to sign up illegals as taxpayers.
When the Church and State collaborate in illegal activity it is a sad affair.
It's a sad time in American history when a simple thesis like Buchanan's draws howls from "conservatives."
We've tumbled into the Looking Glass....
Yes that was brought home by the SCOFLAW's on the florida supreme court. The constitution as a document will continue to exist, but once the judgeships have been filled by unscrupulous communists, it will cease to have any power.
By allowing our higher educational systems to be taken over by the communists, we have lost many of those in the next generation to the propaganda that passes for an education, especially in key programs like law and political science/ government.
We may win a few battles, but ultimately lose the war unless we pry the young out of the clutches of those who hate this country.
Remember, communism is a RELIGION. Just because the soviet union has ceased to exist has not caused the true believers to give up their beliefs, just like Stalin's disbanding comintern didn't stop the continued infiltration of western countries governments, educational systems etc.
They may call themselves globalists today, but the ultimate goal has never changed. And that goal is antithetical to freedom.
Communist goals.
Also, the connection to National Socialism comes to mind. Hitler never messed with the Junker estates in Silesia and Prussia.
Which might lead one to conclude that we're not headed for Marxist style socialism, but rather a different brand.
Here in California Gray Dimbulb Davis is presenting his new "budget", with big cuts supposedly to schools and to welfare, but NOT A WORD about cutting social service goodies to illegals. Those goodies will stand, because Davis wants the hispanic vote and will walk over American taxpayers to get it. I think Bush is doing the same thing.
These people should be sent back to where they came (ILLEGALLY) from. They subverted the law to get here, and they subvert the law to stay here.
A little class here, this morning,....Shakespeare... "Out..Out damned spot!"
I want 9 MILLION sent back, from whence they came, YESTERDAY! I am an American, I will not be denied by the government that is supposed to serve ME!
This is MY land, this is MY home! If you can't be a part of this great country and become a citizen, then go away.
Look on the names of the patriots that died at the Alamo, you'll find many Mexican names. They weren't Mexicians, they were Americans!
If an alien comes to this country wanting better for himself and his family, he must understand that he comes to give as well as take. He must stand for the principals that are this land, he must stand for his new country's defense. He must fully understand that this land requires dedication, work, and some sacrifice. This is not the land that you left, this is the land that you came to. He must understand that he comes to become a part of the biggest brotherhood of free men. He must also take an oath, upon God, to be a part of that brotherhood.
For that, he will be entitled to all the freedom of a citizen of these here United States. The vote, that they will be blessed with, must we weighed, carefully. Is the good of the one more important than the good of the all? That is a question that ONLY an American can answer. It requires an American form of thinking.
Illegals create slums. They hide from the law in Barrios. The first disrespect of the law, illegally entering this country, starts the chain of lawlessness. It puts in place a chain of disrespect that will be passed on, and will be cultivated into a society. Why are we so surprized that we have street gangs in Los Angles? Why are we shocked at the barbarous acts of these young people? We look the other way, we condone it by our complacency.
There is an answer! Stop the illegal entry into this country. Protect the soverignty of our fellow Americans! Do it NOW, and do it forever! This is something that we can do, and we can do it quickly. Disregard the PC thinking of the socialists. We need, and deserve, secure borders. We need to do this NOW!
All of the smart kids in college nowadays are either going into law or marketing. Those are the only professions left that have not been destroyed by the illegimate use of H1-B visas. So, to answer your question, if you want more Americans to learn the engineering arts, I suggest that you stop letting the high-tech companies use H1-B immigrants to drive the wages down to the point where Americans no longer find them attractive. When the wages come back up to the point that they compete with what people can make with a law degree or an MBA then you'll see lots of engineers graduating from our schools. Until then, forget it.
(How's your goose stepping, and do you look good in black?)
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