Some 45 thousand State and Federal prisoners have found a way to get their hands on $123-million dollars in fraudulent tax refunds over the last five years. Senator Chuck Schumer found it hard to believe. "Prisoners are filing fraudulent tax returns and fleecing the rest of us from their jail cells.", Schumer told reporters at a news conference in New York City.
What angers Schumer is that Congress passed a law in 2008 to stop prisoners from getting false tax refunds by forcing the Bureau of Prisons to work more closely with the IRS. Schumer says prison officials are afraid of violating the prisoner's privacy and getting sued, "It's a strange world we live in when agencies are more afraid of being sued by felons than protecting the taxpayers dollars."
Shawn Noble of Noble Tax Services says it's not that difficult for someone to file a false tax return and receive a refund. "All you need is a name, Social Security number and an address." he explained, "You could handwrite a W-2, file that return and get the refund sent to that address without the government even checking it."
Schumer is threatening to call the IRS and the Bureau of Prisons for a public hearing before Congress. Freshman Central New York Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle may play a role. She has been appointed to the Government Oversight Committee. "Why does the government do some things so poorly sometimes?" she asked, "We'll take a look at all those things."
The IRS may have a tough time convincing Buerkle it doesn't have enough people to stop prisoners from collecting fraudulent returns, she already believes the agency is too big.
