Jeff Sessions lies about Mexico paying for the border wall

In case you're wondering why Donald Trump tweeted about the border wall today...

The Democrats don't want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017

Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017

...the reason is because his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, a well known racist, went on George Stephanopoulos's Sunday morning show and said Mexico would pay for Trump's border wall one way or another, but the examples Sessions gave of ways in which Mexico could pay for the wall would end up in American taxpayers having to pay for the wall.

First of all, according to Politico, Sessions said this when Stephanopoulos asked him if Mexico would pay for the wall:

"I don't expect the Mexican government to appropriate money for it. But there are ways that we can deal with our trade situation to create the revenue to pay for it. No doubt about it."

Oh really? Well, if by "deal with our trade situation" he means imposing tariffs on Mexican imports, then guess what? Those tariffs are paid by the American consumer, not by Mexico.

Then Sessions said this:

“We're going to get paid for it one way or the other. I know there's $4 billion a year in excess payments, according to the Department of the Treasury's own inspector general several years ago, that are going to payments to people — tax credits that they shouldn't get. Now, these are mostly Mexicans. And those kind of things add up — $4 billion a year for 10 years is $40 billion.

Sessions is referring to a 2011 report by the Trasury Department claiming that low-income undocumented workers who filed tax returns using an ITIN number got $4 billion in refundable tax credits by claiming children as dependants.

An ITIN number is similat to the Social Security number, but it is meand for non-citizens. For example: a non-citize and non-resident person living in another country who sells digital books on Amazon.com must get an ITIN number from the IRS in order to get paid by Amazon, because at the end of the year Amazon will have to report his earnings to the IRS.

Some undocumented immigrants get ITIN numbers in order to pay payroll taxes. And yes, the law permits them to claim dependant children IF (big IF) the children are either born in the US, legal residents, or if they live in Mexico. That's how the tax code is written.

In many cases the child tax credit simply reduces the amount of income a person earns by $1,000 per child, thus reducing the amount of income tax paid. But in cases in which the ITIN user made very little money, the IRS may issue a refund of $1,000 per eligible child claimed.

The Treasury Department's report referred to alleged tax refunds given to undocumented workers using ITIN numbers. Those are the $4 billion Sessions was talking about. But there are two problems with his logic:

1. The only way to make Mexicans, and only Mexicans, to give up the alleged child tax refunds would be to reform the tax code in Congress so Mexicans using ITIN numbers are no longer eligible. But if Congress were to do that, it would probably be shot down by the Supreme Court for targetting people based on ethnicity, which is unconstitutional.

2. Even if Trump could get away with not giving child credit refunds to users of ITIN numbers, that would only mean American taxpayer money would be relocated to pay for the border wall instead of being used for tax refunds. But that would mean American taxpayers would still be paying for the wall, as American taxpayer money would simply be relocated.

Thus, either Sessions is too ignorant of how taxes work and he thinks the $4 billion he mentioned would come from Mexicans, when in reality it would come from American taxpayers, or Sessions does know the $4 billion would not come from Mexicans, but he lied about it anyway.

This episode begs the question: Why bringing up the subject of the border wall at all? Well, probably because Trump already knows he has one week to get something, ANYTHING, from his bullshit promises done before his first 100 days in office are over. He won't be able to repeal and replace Obamacare, so now he's pushing for his second biggest promise: the border wall. If he can get money for the border wall approved in Congress, he will claim it as a political victory even if American taxpayers pay for it.

But guess what? The Democrats already told Trump they will not approve any money for the border wall even if Trump holds Obamacare subsidies hostage. And Trump needs Democrats to approve his budget before the end of April or else the government will shut down. If the goverment shuts down, Trump loses politicaly.

So it looks like Trump won't get his border wall within the first 100 days. And if he does, it would be American taxpayers paying for it, not Mexico and not Mexicans.