IRS sends $46 million in 'tax refunds' to thousands of illegal aliens all claiming the same Atlanta address

Friday, June 28, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: IRS, tax refunds, illegal aliens

(NaturalNews) It is the responsibility of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect the taxes which fund the government, but increasingly, the agency appears to be one of the worst abusers of the money it collects from hard-pressed taxpayers.

Recent reports have documented the spendthrift habits of many mid-level and senior IRS supervisors. Now comes news that the agency is sending tax refunds to tens of thousands of "unauthorized" alien workers all using the same Atlanta, Ga., address.

In 2011, the IRS sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to the address in question, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has discovered. Per CNSNews.com:

That was not the only Atlanta address theoretically used by thousands of "unauthorized" alien workers receiving millions in federal tax refunds in 2011. In fact, according to a TIGTA audit report published last year, four of the top ten addresses to which the IRS sent thousands of tax refunds to "unauthorized" aliens were in Atlanta.

How many millions to 'unauthorized' aliens?

Maybe now it is easier to understand why Georgia lawmakers recently passed and Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation cracking down on illegal immigrants in the state, much to the chagrin of "civil rights activists" who obviously believe American taxpayers should be fleeced by those who snuck into our country, in violation of our laws.

According to the TIGTA, the IRS sent 11,284 refunds totaling $2,164,976 to illegal alien workers at a second Atlanta address; 3,608 worth $2,691,448 to a third; and 2,386 worth $1,232,943 to a fourth.

But there is much more. Per CNSNews.com:

Other locations on the IG's Top Ten list for singular addresses that were theoretically used simultaneously by thousands of unauthorized alien workers, included an address in Oxnard, Calif, where the IRS sent 2,507 refunds worth $10,395,874; an address in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the IRS sent 2,408 refunds worth $7,284,212; an address in Phoenix, Ariz., where the IRS sent 2,047 refunds worth $5,558,608; an address in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where the IRS sent 1,972 refunds worth $2,256,302; an address in San Jose, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,942 refunds worth $5,091,027; and an address in Arvin, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,846 refunds worth $3,298,877.

And this is just the TIGTA's top 10 locations; the IRS is literally sending who knows how many hundreds of millions of dollars in "refunds" to workers who aren't even supposed to be in the country.

What's more, officials at the agency know full well the legal (or, more correctly, the illegal) status of those receiving these refunds. Beginning in 1996 during the Clinton Administration, the tax agency began issuing ITINs - Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers - to two classes of people. They are 1) aliens who do not have resident status but who otherwise have a tax liability in the U.S.; and 2) aliens living in the U.S. who are "not authorized to work in the United States."

By giving illegal aliens official taxpayer ID numbers the IRS - and by permitting the agency to issue them, Congress is acting as an enabler, fomenting more illegal immigration. Indeed, the Treasury IG's Semiannual Report to Congress, which was published in October 1999, specifically pointed this out:

"The IRS issues Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to undocumented aliens to improve nonresident alien compliance with tax laws. This IRS practice seems counter-productive to the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) mission to identify undocumented aliens and prevent unlawful alien entry," TIGTA warned in the report, some 14 years ago (http://cnsnews.com).

The most recent IG report regarding the handling of ITINs was triggered by a pair of IRS employees who contacted members of Congress "alleging that IRS management was requiring employees to assign Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) even when the applications were fraudulent."

In an August 2012 press release, TIGTA said those complaints had been "validated."

38 percent of a single city's population

"TIGTA's audit found that IRS management has not established adequate internal controls to detect and prevent the assignment of an ITIN to individuals submitting questionable applications," said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for Tax Administration. "Even more troubling, TIGTA found an environment which discourages employees from detecting fraudulent applications."

What is utterly remarkable, however, is the agency's incompetence when it comes to safeguarding your tax dollars. According to the IG's report, the agency assigned 6,411 ITINs to unauthorized aliens who presumably were using a single address in Morganton, N.C. But according to the 2010 census, only 16,681 people lived in that city - meaning that "for the IRS to have been correct in issuing 6,411 ITINS to unauthorized aliens at a single address in Morganton it would have meant that 38 percent of the town's total population were unauthorized alien workers using a single address," CNSNews.com reported.

Elaborate parties. Wasteful spending on ridiculous "training videos." Thousands of dollars apiece for lavish hotel rooms. All while Americans are struggling more and more to pay their taxes and keep their heads above water.

Congress isn't just absent in its oversight role. It is criminally negligent.

Sources for this article include:

http://cnsnews.com

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/15/georgia.legislature/index.html

http://cnsnews.com