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The Treasury Department says that in the 2010 filing year more than $4 billion in child credit refunds went to 2.3 million people who filed tax returns but didn't have Social Security numbers proving they were citizens or legal workers. That's a four-fold increase over five years earlier. On the other side are politically influential Hispanic groups, a key Democratic-friendly constituency. Opponents of tightening eligibility for the child tax credit point out that six of every seven affected families are Hispanic, with an average household income of about $21,000. Tax credits averaging $1,800 per family make a huge difference at such income levels. Hispanics point out that in many instances the tax credit goes to wokers who aren't citizens but whose children are
-- because they've been born in the country and therefore can have Social Security numbers of their own. They say such children should reap the benefit of the tax credit just like other children in comparable economic circumstances. "I just think the child tax credit is working just fine and there's no need to punish children," Sen. Reid said last week. "We're supposed to try to be helping them." One option under consideration is to require tax filers to supply a Social Security number for the child when claiming the tax credit instead of requiring that at least one of the parents possess one. That would respond to criticism that the GOP proposal is unfair to the citizen children of illegal immigrants. "We're not in favor of fraudulent payments or payments that shouldn't be made, but we don't want to create obstacles to supporting low-income families who are trying to care for their children," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "Even though the parent doesn't have a Social Security number, they could still be entitled under their tax return, for a child tax credit." Congress needs to find about $160 billion between now and the end of the month to cover the costs of extending through Dec. 31 a Social Security tax cut averaging about $20 a week for 160 million workers, federal unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and unreduced Medicare fees for doctors. All are now due to expire Feb. 29.
[Associated
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