This was in the sunday paper...this is so stupid maybe I should have put it on the humor form....
week that refunds of more than $80,000 were issued ``in some instances''
IRS Erroneously Paid Slavery Credits
By CURT ANDERSON
AP Tax Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service mistakenly paid out more than $30 million to tax filers seeking nonexistent slavery tax credits in 2000 and 2001, according to a Treasury Department investigation.
A growing number of black taxpayers are being misled by scams falsely claiming that, for a fee, they can get tax credits or refunds as reparations for slavery. The scams are given credence when some taxpayers actually get money. The IRS received more than 77,000 tax returns last year claiming $2.7 billion in reparations refunds, up from 13,000 the year before. Last year, the IRS discovered that some erroneous refunds were being issued but was only partly effective in stopping them. The Treasury inspector general for tax administration, David C. Williams, said in Senate testimony this week that refunds of more than $80,000 were issued ``in some instances'' to married couples when each spouse claimed the reparations credit. In 2000 and the first four months of 2001, Williams said, more than $30 million in erroneous reparations payments were paid. After April of last year, a computer program developed by the inspector general identified an additional $16.1 million in claims before they were paid.
The Washington Post, citing an unidentified official, reported that one IRS employee is under investigation for allegedly helping process returns that claimed the credit. At least 12 current and former IRS employees, all low-level workers in processing centers, applied to receive such a credit, the newspaper report said. Typical scams use terms such as ``black investment taxes,'' ``reparations for African-Americans'' or a ``black inheritance tax refund.'' This is the first indication of what these scams cost the government. Most of the mistaken payments were for about $43,000, a figure Essence magazine suggested in 1993 as the updated value of 40 acres and a mule, which some freed slaves were given under an order by a Union general during the Civil War. The tax agency is now trying to recover the money it paid out, though officials would not disclose how much has been collected. Starting Monday, the IRS will be begin levying a $500 fine on taxpayers who do not withdraw the claim if they have been caught.
Although I'm not black,both sides of my family lost food,livestock,etc. in the South during the "War of Northern Aggression." Think I can get something for that? Yeah,Right.
$43000 seems to be a lot of money for the Possibility that a remote ancestor MAY have been a slave in the US for 50 years. Yes, you read that correctly, 50 years, not this 500 years BS. From the ratification of the Constitution to the outlawing of slavery was slightly less than 50 years. The whole slavery reparations isuue is bogus. Sme people mistakenly believe that the reparations paid to Japanese Americans set some sort of precedent for this. News Flash: the US government ILLEGALLY caused great economic damage to tens of thousands of law abiding US citizens and legal residents; therefore the Feds had to cough up some restitution, though I think the awards were way too small. The Feds also imprisoned many Germans in the same manner, though I do not think any of their families got any money, or even asked for it.
__________________
"Gee, Wally,
Eddie Haskel's mom puts out!"
As long as people :
A. Are dumb enough to fall for such obvious scams.
B. As long as there are jerks who try to extort money from people who are blameless for real or imagined greivences.
__________________
"Gee, Wally,
Eddie Haskel's mom puts out!"
Klaus,you should get a laugh out of this. During WW2 my uncle sent back a Nazi banner,about twenty ft. long. My aunt lived in a basically German neighborhood in Nebraska,the flag had some mildew on it,so she hung it out on the line to air out. When my Grandfather came home from work,he was sure they were going to come and arrest the whole family,and yes,my Mother's side are all German.
Hi Klaus,I think this will keep going on as long as politicians think they can keep buying votes!
They have been doing it a long time,but it became an art during the LBJ administration!:nod: :nod: :nod:
God Bless The IRS for their Charity 
