The Hill News

A recent government report reveals that illegal immigrants improperly received billions in taxpayer dollars due to an easy-to-fix loophole in the tax code.  The tax benefit at the heart of the debate is the popular child tax credit, which can eliminate up to $1,000 per child off a parent's tax bill.
 
Because this credit is refundable, as it stands parents who owe no taxes can receive cash back from the government for their children through the tax code.  Since the credit has been expanded over the years to help people make ends meet in the recession, the number of people claiming the credit has skyrocketed.   Defying common sense, this refundable tax credit can be provided to an illegal immigrant so long as the immigrant is able to obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS.
 
The new report shows that in 2010, the government's award of $4.2 billion through the credit to illegal immigrants was up from $924 million in! 2005.   In 2010, illegal immigrants received about 15 percent of the total $28.3 billion awarded through child tax credits.  That’s just wrong.

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