A bill would withhold taxes for workers who may be illegal immigrants.
Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat, said he filed the bill after hearing from the N.C. Department of Revenue that some contractors don't pay income tax.
Under the current system, contractors who have Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs, instead of Social Security numbers can avoid having state income tax taken out of their paychecks.
But Hoyle said the state has no way to find those workers later on if they don't end up paying, since federal law prohibits the Internal Revenue Service from sharing information on ITINs to other government agencies.
"You can't get an address. You can't track them down. You can't audit them." he said. "Osama bin Laden could get an ITIN number and nobody would ever check him."
He said the Department of Revenue is losing "hundreds of millions of dollars" from unpaid taxes.
"Everybody should have to pay their taxes," he said.
Comments
Re: Bill would withhold taxes
March 29, 2009 - 11:11pm — ryanteaguebeckwith (author)No, that's freedom of the press. Free speech is a separate clause in the First Amendment.
— RTB
Re: Bill would withhold taxes
March 29, 2009 - 9:14pm — j1c2kpDoes freedom of speech only refer to the media that writes infammatory, biased 'news' stories?
Re: Bill would withhold taxes
March 28, 2009 - 10:29pm — tangozSenator Hoyle should have been in the Obama's administration vetting team?
We are now in the top five of states for the highest unemployment. Maybe it is time for the Democrats to cut programs that are not needed or essential. And give businesses and individuals that actually pay taxes in NC a break. If we have more liquid income we will trickle that back up, LOL.
Re: Bill would withhold taxes
March 28, 2009 - 11:57am — FFC1304It would be a great opportunity for Sen. Hoyle to promote the idea of
the FAIRTAX proposal in Congress as a way for NC to become more equitable in tax collections.
www.Fairtax.org
Find the Fairtax group in your neighborhood and JOIN!
Re: Bill would withhold taxes
March 28, 2009 - 10:11am — ryanteaguebeckwith (author)Comment deleted. I'm fairly sure you were aiming for satire there, but it was just a tad too offensive.
— RTB