Trump, Tax Writers Find Doubts on Plan for Social Security IDs
Concerns over identity theft alarm even some Republicans
Posted Jun 1, 2017 5:03 AM
Alan K. Ota
President Donald Trump and top congressional tax writers say they want to prevent undocumented workers from claiming tax breaks they aren’t entitled to by tightening up the standards, but a proposal to expand the use of Social Security numbers is finding resistance among lawmakers, including Republicans who are worried about identify theft.
Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget request would expand on language in the 1996 tax overhaul that required tax filers claiming the earned income tax credit to include a qualifying child’s name and Social Security number on the return. The administration said it would tighten the mandate to require such filers to also show they have the right to work.
The budget proposal would also add a requirement that filers claiming the child tax credit have a Social Security number and demonstrate a right to work in the U.S.
The administration says that a number of taxpayers with Social Security numbers who are claiming the EITC do not have approval to work in the country.
House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas and Senate Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch of Utah both said an emerging tax overhaul could be a vehicle for measures similar to the administration’s proposals. The administration says it would save $40 billion over 10 years.
- See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/trump-tax-writers-find-doubts-plan-social-security-ids
