[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 2729-2730]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER TAX CREDIT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. SAM JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 4, 2010

  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Eligibility Verification Act.
  The purpose of this bill is simple: to prevent those who are here 
illegally from claiming the refundable first-time homebuyer tax credit, 
which is worth up to $8,000. According to a January 25, 2010 Dallas 
Morning News article by Steve McGonigle entitled ``Feds find dubious 
home tax credit claims from Texas,'' close to 1,000 claims from Texas 
have come from individuals ``employing a special taxpayer

[[Page 2730]]

identification number primarily used by illegal immigrants, who are not 
entitled to the credit.'' This is just plain wrong.
  Currently, the IRS does not require an individual to provide a Social 
Security number in order to claim the first-time homebuyer tax credit. 
Rather, if the individual does not have a Social Security number, the 
individual can still apply for the credit so long as they are able to 
get an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS. 
The problem here is that illegal immigrants are getting these numbers 
from the IRS. According to the previously mentioned article, ``the IRS 
has acknowledged that more than half of ITINs are filed by illegal 
immigrants.'' In an effort to prevent illegal immigrants from claiming 
the credit, my bill proposes that a taxpayer must provide a Social 
Security number rather than an ITIN. Doing so will help to prevent 
fraud and in turn protect the American taxpayer. I urge my colleagues 
to support this bill.

                          ____________________