- While the debate over slavery reparations rages in legal
and academic circles, it seems some folks at the Internal Revenue Service
have already resolved the question.
-
- In fact, two years ago the tax-collecting agency began
handing out reparations payments to the tune of millions, based on claims
filed by taxpayers who cited a nonexistent slavery tax credit.
-
- The scam, touted by con artists who tell unsuspecting
marks they can help collect the slavery money for a fee, has resulted in
$2.7 billion in claims, of which $30 million has been approved by the IRS.
-
- The racket is so widespread that a dozen current and
former IRS employees have even applied for the slavery cash.
-
- An IRS computer program designed to catch the bogus slavery
claims misses a full 4 percent, said the Washington Post, which revealed
the scam's success on Saturday - just two days before the IRS's filing
deadline.
-
- Most of the taxpayer-funded slavery payments were for
$43,209, the figure cited by Essence magazine in 1993 as the estimated
current value of "40 acres and a mule" - compensation promised
to some freed slaves after the Civil War.
-
- But deputy IRS Inspector General Pamela Gardiner admitted
that in some cases, where couples filing jointly both claimed reparations
refunds, checks for $80,000 were cut.
-
- Gardiner told the Post that the mistaken payments have
encouraged others who might otherwise be skeptical of the slavery tax credit
to file their own claims.
-
- "Schemes all tend to jump as word [of their success]
begins to get out," she said.
-
- http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/4/13/132556
|
