The petition
We, the undersigned, demand that Congress fix the thoughtless mistake it made in the economic stimulus package that outrageously excludes LEGAL immigrants, US citizens and even military personnel who are defending us in Afghanistan, Iraq and all over the world, if their spouses happen not to have Social Security Numbers when they file their taxes as a married couple. This was done to deny illegal aliens rebate checks -- but there are many perfectly legal families where a spouse uses a tax id number instead of a social security number.
Americans who are defending freedom and risking their lives for us on duty in Afghanistan, Germany, Iraq, Korea, Japan and many other countries all over the world often fall in love and marry foreigners, and of course they don't have Social Security Numbers. When such married GIs file their taxes, their spouses have tax identification numbers, and Congress has never punished them before. A married GI doesn't lose his or her tax refund check. Yet Congress has excluded them from the rebate.
And it gets worse: those who filed as if we weren't married this year to get the rebate for its purpose, to get American families through these tough economic straits, lose the right to file jointly for an indefinite time. That will cost us money.
There are at least tens of thousands of service personnel all over the world whom Congress's mistake is costing thousands of dollars, and a million plus taxpaying legal immigrants and US citizens in America whose families have earned this money to get through tough economic times.
So WE are doing something about it. We are demanding that Congress fix this unfairness immediately through a technical corrections amendment at the first opportunity, whether as a freestanding piece of legislation or attached to some other must-pass bill.
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