In economic fix, Ensign likely to get his tax shutout

By Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Jorge Sierra de la Rosa sat in a chair Monday at Sus Amigos Income Tax Service, one of at least 20 people waiting their turns in the small storefront along Eastern Avenue north of Desert Inn Road.

He wondered aloud whether Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., had any conscience, pointing to an amendment the senator has proposed for the nation’s economic stimulus plan. It would prevent de La Rosa and millions of others nationwide from receiving tax rebates.

Outside, candy-colored tax offices stretched north as far as the eye could see — Latino Services, Taxes Mas, on and on.

As with somewhere between 30 percent and 50 percent of the hundreds filing in and out of those offices on any given day during tax season, Sierra de la Rosa was filing his tax return with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. That’s a nine-digit number the federal government gives to those who don’t have Social Security numbers.

Foreign investors and students from other countries use the numbers, but most of the people who use them are illegal immigrants. Odds are most of those filing tax returns with the numbers along Eastern belong to the last category.

And they aren’t likely to get the rebate that other taxpayers are expected to receive sometime this spring. Even people who would usually argue against such measures are not putting up a fight against this one.

Ensign has said that illegal immigrants don’t deserve the checks, expected to be $500 to $1,200 each. Even Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader — who supported last year’s congressional plan that included a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants — has said Ensign’s measure will not be stripped from the package.

Though some say it is unfair and would effectively cut off an economic jump-start for many communities, others say it is too politically sensitive to debate in today’s Congress.

To Blaire Borthayre, whose Hispanic Marketing Resources has trained as many as 5,000 tax preparers how to use the taxpayer ID number, the federal government would be placing illegal immigrants below violent criminals when it comes to taxes.

“If you’ve committed a sex crime or murdered someone, you can file a tax return,” she said. “Are you saying somebody who came here illegally is worse than a murderer?”

Borthayre estimates that 75 percent of those who file with the taxpayer ID numbers are undocumented workers. IRS figures show that 3.2 million people filed taxes with the number in 2006. Based on Borthayre’s estimate, that means 2.4 million illegal immigrants paid taxes that year.

If the upward trend in the number of taxpayer ID numbers assigned during the past four years is any indication, an even greater number will file this year.

Sierra de la Rosa has paid taxes with the number four years in a row. The stocky 42-year-old delivered landscaping materials to new homes until the valleywide downturn in residential construction led to his layoff last week.

He said he paid taxes because he “didn’t want to have any problems,” wiping clean an imaginary slate with his thick hands.

He said he took home up to $1,800 a month before losing his job, $450 of which went to rent and about $400 of which went to support his children and wife in Mexico.

If he were to get a rebate, he said, at least $350 would go right away to buying new tires for his Nissan truck, because the ones he’s running on now are at least three years old.

Margarita Rebollal, executive director of the East Las Vegas Community Development Corp., said most of those who file with the tax ID numbers would use such a rebate on gas, clothing, food and the rent. Her organization offers free help filing taxes to low-income workers, many of whom are Hispanic. Rebollal noted that hundreds, perhaps thousands of Hispanic construction workers in the valley have been laid off in the past year.

Borthayre surveyed 200 tax return offices across the country, including several in Las Vegas, asking how workers filing returns with the tax ID numbers used their annual refunds. According to Raphael Tulino, IRS spokesman, people filing with the numbers received an average refund of $2,000-plus, similar to the general population. About 50 percent in Borthayre’s survey said they used their refunds on family — school supplies or clothes for the children, health care for grandma. An additional 15 percent bought appliances, matched by 15 percent who bought cars or spent money on the ones they already had. An additional 15 percent spent their returns on what could be described as entertainment, usually a home or car stereo.

“Being family-driven,” Borthayre said, “this means that time and time again the money goes back into the local community.”

But those who are close to the scene on Capitol Hill say this aspect of the economic stimulus package is not about dollars and cents — it’s about the politics of immigration.

Even the National Council of La Raza, one of the nation’s most visible Hispanic advocacy groups, isn’t taking this on.

Cecilia Muñoz, senior vice president for the group’s office of research, advocacy and legislation, said immigration now “comes up on every issue that moves through Congress ... (so) we’re picking our battles.”

The irony, Muñoz added, is that “the people who are proposing this are the same people who argue that immigrants are not paying taxes. This highlights the extent to which people want it both ways.”

Juan Lopez, Sierra de la Rosa’s cousin, sat nearby at Sus Amigos on Monday afternoon. He operated heavy machinery, building houses in the valley for 12 years, and was laid off about a month ago. The two estimated they had worked on at least 2,000 houses together.

“I bet the senator lives in one of the houses we built,” Lopez said.