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Reform the Rebate: Stop Penalizing Law Abiding Spouses

Reform the Rebate: Stop Penalizing Law Abiding Spouses

174 signatures 76 to reach 250
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Suave C. signed
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Steven P. signed
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TEODORA M. signed
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Someone signed
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Frank N. signed
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Susan H. signed
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Vijayaraghavan K. signed
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melissa k. signed
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Paul S. signed
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maria g. signed
Started by Anonymous 18 years, 3 months ago
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.

Updates

May 15, 2008

I am honestly overwhelmed by how many people have joined this cause. It still feels surreal to see so many of you standing up for these families when I only meant to highlight a simple mistake. This progress belongs entirely to all of you who took the time to read and share this story.

Reached 100 supporters

May 15, 2008

6 Comments

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Mike Marshall
18 years ago Featured

My brother is on his 3rd deployment and he gets slapped with this? absolute joke. fix it now.

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Jason Castro
18 years ago Featured

Fix this mistake. We need that money to pay for our kids stuff and bills just like every other family. Stop the discrimination.

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Robert Ortega
18 years ago Featured

congress needs to wake up and look at who they are actually hurting. these are legal families trying to do things the right way.

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Sarah Day
18 years ago Featured

how is it fair to treat soldiers like this. they serve the country and get nothing back because of their spouses immigration status. total nonsense.

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David Perez
18 years ago Featured

Ridiculous that they assume everyone has a SSN. My wife and I have been paying taxes for years and we get skipped over because of a stupid rule.

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Elena Walker
18 years ago Featured

This is just punishing families. We are tax payers just like everyone else.

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