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The Valley, July 2013
Back Talk by Dr. Joseph Kauffman
“The Blind Leading The Blind” This month’s column is straying quite a bit from Chiropractic. But, it is quite interesting when I found out what has happened and I hope you find it as intriguing as I did. I have had my doubts for many years about an agency such as the Internal Revenue Service. I don’t like the places that they send our money. For example, how is it ethical for any government agency to send federal aid to a known abortion clinic such as Planned Parenthood? Planned Parenthood claims to offer assistance to pregnant women who are looking for help, when in fact they have been busted, on camera, helping girls as young as fourteen get abortions without telling their parents. It blows my mind how young girls need parental permission to attend a class field trip, but not to take the life of a baby! I am against abortion and I am appalled that my tax money is used to fund a known abortion clinic. If you
work for someone, take a look at your pay stubs and see how much tax is being taken off by the federal government. Sure, you may get a refund. But, your refund pales in comparison to what has been taken. And, I think anyone who is self-employed like I am, can relate and probably dreads paying taxes just like I do. If I knew my money was being spent on good things, needed things, I would not have any problems. But, after reading this next article, I really have an issue with the IRS, more so than before. Check this out: “The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds to a single Atlanta address for a total of $46,378,040 in 2011 — and each of the refunds, averaging over $1,900 each, went to undocumented immigrants, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Although that single Atlanta address was perhaps the most
egregious example, it was by no means the only one. As it turns out, ‘four of the top ten addresses to which the IRS sent thousands of tax refunds to ‘unauthorized’ aliens were in Atlanta,’ as reported by CNS News. The IRS sent 11,284 refunds worth a combined $2,164,976 to unauthorized 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 the problem isn’t limited to Atlanta or even Georgia. Similar examples can be found all over the country. Here in South Florida, the IRS sent 1,972 refunds to ‘unauthorized’ recipients totaling $2,256,302, all going to a single address in Palm Beach Gardens. Other locations on the Inspector General’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, Arizona, where the IRS sent 2,047 refunds worth $5,558,608; an address in San Jose, California, where the IRS sent 1,942 refunds worth $5,091,027; and an address in Arvin, California, where the IRS sent 1,846 refunds worth $3,298,877. The problem began in 1996, when the IRS began issuing Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to undocumented immigrants who are ‘not authorized to work in the United States.’ Three years later, the Treasury Inspector General reported the problem with this practice. ‘The IRS issues Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to undocumented aliens to improve nonresident alien compliance with tax laws. This IRS practice seems counterproductive to the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s (INS) mission to identify undocumented aliens and prevent unlawful alien entry,’ Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) warned in that long-ago report. But the practice continues,
www.thevalleynewspaper.com
and the problem persists. Two IRS employees eventually went to a member of Congress alleging that IRS management was requiring employees to assign Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) even when the applications were fraudulent,’ according to the Inspector General’s 2012 audit. All-in-all, the Inspector General found 154 addresses around the country that appeared on a 1,000 or more ITIN applications made to the IRS’ CNS reported. CNS’s Terence Jeffrey continued: Perhaps the most remarkable act of the IRS was this: It assigned 6,411 ITINs to unauthorized aliens presumably using a single address in Morganton, North Carolina. According to the 2010 Census, there were only
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