Clarifying "Carlos"
Last night's freeSpeech segment got a lot of reaction over on the Evening News Web page. The segment featured an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala named "Carlos," who mentioned, among other things, how his parents paid taxes.
That set off a small firestorm. Many comments were like this one:
"Almost from the beginning my parents paid taxes." Is he serious? Are they looking for a pat on the back? Americans pay taxes FROM THE BEGINNING. And if his parents paid PAYROLL TAXES and not just taxes at Wal-Mart and the gas station, they were working under stolen identities, with fraudulently obtained social security numbers. More crimes, aspiring lawyer, and I believe those are felonies.Marc Rosenwasser, who produced the segment, sent us the following note this morning, to pass along to our viewers and readers:
As the producer of "freeSpeech," I want to clarify one point about the comment by "Carlos" that his family paid taxes
Some viewers said that was impossible because his parents had no Social Security numbers.
This is quoting from the IRS: "An ITIN, or individual Taxpayer Identification Number, is a tax processing number only available for certain nonresident and resident aliens, their spouses, and dependents who cannot get a Social Security Number."
That is what Carlos told us his father used once he was employed in this country. Carlos also said everyone in his family has an ITIN.