The IRS created a nine-digit Individual Tax Identification Number in 1996 for foreigners who don't have Social Security numbers but need to file taxes in the U.S. But it is increasingly used by undocumented workers to file taxes, apply for credit, get bank accounts or even buy a home.
The IRS issued 1.5 million ITINs in 2006 — a 30 percent increase from the previous year. To obtain one, a person needs to submit to the IRS an application and a document that serves as proof of identity, such as a visa or driver's license. All told, the tax liability of ITIN filers between 1996 and 2003 was $50 billion. The agency has no way to track how many were immigrants, but it's widely believed most people using ITINS are in the United States illegally.
The IRS does not share these number with other federal agencies. It should stay that way.
"They want to go forward, work, be a normal taxpayer," said Erica Gonzalez, a staffer in ACORN [Housing Corp.]'s Fresno office, where demand for the tax ID has shot up in recent years. "If they want to establish themselves here, this lets them do that."
Some states allow drivers' licenses to be issued to those with TINs.
As Ben Johnson, director of the Immigration Policy Center at the nonpartisan American Immigration Law Foundation, says:
"The U.S. economy hangs a huge 'help wanted' sign at the border, and they come to work, not to hide," he said. "A lot of people struggle with the idea they're here without permission, and want to find a way to operate legitimately, like a normal hardworking person."
As for why the undocumented pay their taxes, here's what one 18 year old says:
The $800 payment is steep, he said. But if it helps him to build a lawful life in the United States — a life he hopes will include his own janitorial business, and in the future, college — it's worth it.
"It's better to stay on the right side of the law," he said.
Immigration reform legislation should only be supported, in my view, if it allows the undocumented already living in this country to remain here. They should not have to return and pay a huge re-entry fee. They are here, we benefit from their presence, a lot of them work and pay taxes and we're a big country. We can assimilate them, just as we have millions of others in prior decades and centuries.
