RT NewsMany Americans expecting to see their tax refunds in their bank accounts soon are waking up to a very different scenario: the government actively intercepting their checks in order to pay back debts they’re not responsible for.
According to a new report in the Washington Post, the federal government is seizing nearly $2 billion from hundreds of thousands of taxpayers this year in order to settle debts, some incurred by their parents, some dating back to more than a decade.
This process has been ongoing since 2011, when a revision in the farm bill passed by Congress removed the 10-tear statute of limitations on debts owed to the United States. Since that bill was passed, the government has collected $424 million on debts older than a decade. This year, however, has seen the Social Security Administration (SSA) alone claim that 400,000 Americans owe a total of $714 million in debts older than 10 years.
Multiple government agencies told the Post they were not responsible for pushing for the change, with Social Security spokeswoman Dorothy Clark saying,“We have an obligation to current and future Social Security beneficiaries to attempt to recoup money that people received when it was not due.”
In one case documented by the newspaper, 58-year-old Mary Grice of Maryland discovered her tax refund had been seized by the government to pay for a debt she did not even know existed, and had been incurred under her father’s Social Security number. Her father died in 1960, but her mother – also deceased now – received survivor’s benefits, and the SSA claims it overpaid someone back in 1977 although it is not sure who.
As a result, the agency targeted the oldest sibling – Mary – to pay off the 37-year-old debt. If she was unable to pay it in full, it would have moved down to the next sibling.
“It was a shock,” Grice told the Post. “What incenses me is the way they went about this. They gave me no notice, they can’t prove that I received any overpayment, and they use intimidation tactics, threatening to report this to the credit bureaus.”
Although the Federal Trade Commission’s website states that citizens “typically are not obligated to pay the debts of a deceased relative from their own assets,” the SSA said that if a member indirectly gets assistance from Social Security benefits, their money can be confiscated to repay debts regardless of how old it is.
“While we are responsible for collecting delinquent debts owed to taxpayers, we understand the importance of ensuring that debtors are treated fairly,” the Treasury Department’s Jeffrey Schramek said to the Post.
Treasury officials also stated that before someone’s refund can be seized, evidence of the debt must exist. In Grice’s case, however, SSA officials told the woman that no records existed certifying the debt’s validity.
“The craziest part of this whole thing is the way the government seizes a child’s money to satisfy a debt that child never even knew about,” Grice’s attorney, Robert Vogel, said. “They’ll say that somebody got paid for that child’s benefit, but the child had no control over the money and there’s no way to know if the parent ever used the money for the benefit of that kid.”
Grice isn’t the only person this is happening to, of course, but she’s lucky in that Vogel decided to take on her case for free. Others who’ve seen their refunds taken – ranging from a few hundred dollars to more than a couple of thousand – cannot afford to mount a legal challenge and therefore don’t. Vogel told the Post he’s very concerned about the statute lifted by Congress.
“Can the government really bring back to life a case that was long dead?” he asked. “Can it really be right to seize a child’s money to satisfy a parent’s debt?”
http://rt.com/usa/social-security-treasury-target-americans-968/
Every day this government gets worse and worse, day by day. WTF? So I am now responsible for what my parents or grandparents did? BS. This is getting way out of control, I really have had it, the breaking point is so friggin close. Enough is Enough, these b tards are stealing innocent people’s money so they can spend millions on trips. I am serious it is time to purge this system once and for all, it has grown to big, way to big, and they have bribed too many people that will work and slave for this treasonous disgusting, vile thing they call the government. Why don’t they call it what it really is, a corporation. Sick I tell you sick.
AGREE Missy
I for one stopped funding them a decade ago(take my toys and go home) but now I feel Its time to start making the way they do business (crony capitalism) so F-in expensive for them they will crush under their own weight.
Take civil dis-obedience(not paying taxes) and add a dash of ‘take that skelator’ (f-in stuff up)and what do you get?
Federal and state workers who are so afraid of every neighbor they flock to DC for safety. Effectively making DC the largest ‘kill zone’ in the USA.
It’s impossible to avoid paying taxes, unless you are self employed.
We are self employed and we still have to pay taxes. I don’t pay quarterly, so I have to pay a penalty, but I still have to write that check by every April 15th. I feel there are battles you choose to fight with this treasonous government, and taxes is one battle I am not ready to fight. I had to deal with the IRS for over 7 years on taxes we owed and could not afford to pay, when we were in the military they kept every tax return and I paid monthly, until that huge debt was paid off, don’t want to go there again, they are not very pleasant to deal with.
Well Missy, when you do what you do, what’s the difference?
Do what I do? You mean my job, abstracting?
You talked awhile back about how wonderful your job was.
I do Love my job, I research records in different court houses, I also do a lot of geneology research, that has nothing to do with paying taxes. My point is I don’t like where my tax dollars go, but I still have to pay them.
Amen it is time to purge the system from top to bottom local, state, federal and all the petty bureaucrats with them.
The whole thing is run on a system of interlocking theft and corruption, in fact if the corruption was stopped the whole thing would collapse.
People work themselves to death for pennies while all the land, food, money and everything else is outright stolen from them and them they are asked to pay for a few crumbs someone got? Forget it. Refuse. And don’t use their stuff or give them anything.
I am sick of this country, the people are just too dumb and too passive. I want my country back, now.
Amen, Michael!! I could not of said it better myself!! 🙂
Good luck collecting is all I can say,time for more names and addresses.
“Although the Federal Trade Commission’s website states that citizens “typically are not obligated to pay the debts of a deceased relative from their own assets,” the SSA said that if a member indirectly gets assistance from Social Security benefits, their money can be confiscated to repay debts regardless of how old it is.”
This is why companies and employees need to stop accepting Direct Deposit and checks and start demanding to be paid in cash or something of value (even though we all know our fiat paper money basically has no real value anymore) in their hands that the government can’t snatch up before you even get it in your hands. I’ve been saying this for years.
However, when you mention it to them like I did to the manager of my apartment complex when I wanted to pay her in cash and not check or money order, she gives me this shocked look on her face saying, “Well we can’t take cash and have that money on hand. What if someone robs us?”
(Shaking my head in disbelief) Ugh! Sheeple.
The banks are already robbing you everyday and you’re worried about someone coming in and robbing you? What a dumbass!
““While we are responsible for collecting delinquent debts owed to taxpayers, we understand the importance of ensuring that debtors are treated fairly,” the Treasury Department’s Jeffrey Schramek said to the Post.”
Evidently not, seeing as how you are doing the exact opposite, you slimeball!
Simple solution; Take no withholding from your paycheck and file extensions. They are already broke, so it shouldn’t take more than two years of no tax revenue to completely implode this corrupt and criminal tax system.
I thought that a decade ago. Too many pussified americans that will pay.
Agreed……..
One of the first articles I ever sent in~”The price of Medicaid-Everything you have left” My Mom died Jan. 2013, I received this letter from the State of Mi. in March~
Notice on “Notice to file claim 2 link” it says they are a known creditor. They are just Disgusting! mho
http://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/the-price-of-medicaid-everything-you-have-left/38777