Old And Busted: It's Not Amnesty Because illegals Will Have To Pay Back Taxes. New Hotness: Shut Up.

Via Mickey Kaus...who could have seen this coming? I mean, besides everyone.

“I think no one can go back and guess or surmise how much the unpaid taxes would be for the entire group,” said David Marzahl, the president and CEO of the Center for Economic Progress, a group that works on tax issues with low-income and immigrant groups.

Negotiators had to choose between a hard-line approach favored by Republicans, like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), that would have required immigrants and employers to painstakingly piece together a tax history so the government could collect what is owed and a less burdensome option of focusing on people who already have a past-due bill with the Internal Revenue Service.

They chose the milder approach and punted the details to the Treasury Department and IRS to hash out down the road.

The legislation now simply requires any currently undocumented immigrant to pay “any applicable federal tax liability.” That most likely means that only those people who filed tax paperwork like a W-2 or I-9 form with their employer could potentially be hit by a tax bill, and only if they missed a tax payment in the past.

...

Negotiators continued using the term “back taxes” when selling the plan and trying to allay concerns among conservatives that the proposal would not be tough enough on immigrants who entered the country illegally.

“The term back taxes is part of their lingo, but I think what people want is to make sure people are paying their fair share,” said Marshall Fitz, the director of immigration policy at the liberal Center for American Progress. “There isn’t this punitive retribution mentality like you have to go back and correct all of your mistakes.”

The dishonesty of the amnesty crowd is breathtaking even by the usual low standards of politics. Of course, since they won't even admit it's amnesty (and it is amnesty), this isn't anything remotely surprising.

posted by DrewM. at 11:03 AM

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