Holiday Season Tax Deal Leaves Immigrants Out in the Cold

Legislation Would Create Two-Tier Tax Code, Enact Barriers to Paying Taxes

WASHINGTON — Senate negotiators have agreed on a plan for tax cuts for corporations and much needed changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The agreement, which was released last night, also contains provisions that would hurt low-wage taxpaying immigrant families.

The agreement would essentially create a two-tier tax system, denying newly legalized domestic violence survivors, DACA recipients, and others the rights enjoyed by other tax filers with identical economic circumstances. The agreement would bar millions of tax-paying immigrants receiving Social Security numbers from access to vital tax credits. Worse, the agreement would enact additional barriers on those who wish to file taxes using an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, making tax compliance for working immigrant families even more difficult.

Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center:

“In their zeal to come up with a deal on taxes, tax negotiators have approved a harsh and shortsighted policy proposal that will only serve to hurt immigrant families and deplete our tax coffers. Working families across America can – and should – be able to count on the tax credits they need to keep the lights on and food on the table so we are glad that the EITC and CTC have been extended permanently.

“But it is shameful that anti-immigrant legislators continue to feel a constant need to add an anti-immigrant imprimatur to their legislation. Immigrant families should not have to pay a steep price in exchange for sound tax policy. Yet, this shortsighted and nonsensical policy punishes the very immigrant workers who have been filing their taxes and sets up new barriers for immigrants wanting to comply with the tax laws. Working families, regardless of where they were born, deserve legislation that allows them to plan their economic future. But this economic certainty should not come on the backs of immigrant workers and their children.”

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