President Trump's budget will halt tax credits for illegal aliens

Washington Examiner:

President Trump will seek to tighten restrictions on some tax credits to prevent them from being claimed by illegal immigrants, a measure that the administration says is necessary to respect taxpayers and balance the budget.

Trump's fiscal 2018 budget, set to be released Tuesday, will set higher eligibility standards for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Monday. According to the administration, the measures will save $40 billion over 10 years.

"How do I go to somebody who pays their taxes, and say, ‘Look, I want you to give this earned income tax credit to somebody who's working here illegally'? That's not defensible," Mulvaney told reporters. "And it's a reasonable accommodation to simply ask them for Social Security numbers."

The earned income tax credit is a refundable tax credit, which means that if a recipient has no income tax liability, the government sends the person a check. Part of the child tax credit is also refundable.

Both programs have high improper payment amounts. About a quarter of payments were made improperly in 2016, according to the Treasury inspector general for tax, or about $17 billion for the earned income tax credit and $7 billion for the child tax credit.
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The current situation is indefensible and the Obama administration should be ashamed for not doing more to stop the effort.  It is almost like they were subsidizing illegal immigration into the US for political purposes in hopes of making them future Democrats.