Congressman Gosar Introduces Legislation to End Federal Tax Giveaway to Illegal Immigrants

Press Release

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ), with the support of Arizona's entire Republican delegation, introduced H.R. 6165, The Responsible Child Tax Credit Eligibility Verification Act of 2012. This legislation will require increased verification by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in order for noncitizen tax filers to claim the refundable portion of the child tax credit. Congressman Gosar pursued this initiative in response to a July 2011 Treasury Inspector General report which revealed that $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits were given to illegal immigrants in 2010 alone.

"I came to Congress to fight against waste, fraud, and abuse in our federal government -- the widespread abuse of the refundable child tax credit is an embarrassing example," said Congressman Gosar. "The Federal Government should be enforcing our laws, not creating incentives to break them."

Current law allows many non citizens to apply for the refundable child tax credit using an "individual taxpayer identification number," but the issuance of this number only confirms that an individual has taxable income, not that they are present in the United States legally. The Responsible Child Tax Credit Eligibility Verification Act of 2012 requires that non citizens provide further documentation to the IRS - specifically a passport, visa, permanent resident card, or work authorization. The legislation also requires this documentation for every non citizen child of the individual filer.

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