Government Seizes Tax Returns From Thousands
A Provision to the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (aka U.S. Farm Bill of 2008) allows the government to go after old debts by seizing tax refunds from the children of the debtors.
A government mistake from 1977 for the overpayment of a woman’s social security payments resulted in the confiscation of the tax return of her daughter, who was just a child at the time the mistake was made.
This year alone, the Treasury Department has intercepted around $75 million dollars from tax filers for debts their parents owed more than 10 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers are expected to get their tax refunds confiscated due to this provision.
Since the Government began acting on this provision in 2011, the Treasury Department has collected over $424 million dollars in debt that is more than a decade old.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY • Introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 2419 by Collin Peterson (D–MN) on May 22, 2007 • Committee consideration by: Agriculture, Foreign Affairs • Passed the House of Representatives on July 27, 2007 (231–191) • Passed the Senate as the Food and Energy Security Act on December 14, 2007 (79–14) • Reported by the joint conference committee on May 13, 2008; agreed to by the House of Representatives on May 14, 2008 (318–106) and by the Senate on May 15, 2008 (81–15) • Vetoed by President George W. Bush on May 21, 2008 • Overridden by the House of Representatives on May 21, 2008 (316–108) • Overridden by the Senate and became law on May 22, 2008 (82–13)