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| Home Front: Economy |
| Scandal clues in W-2s |
| 2005-04-18 |
| Commentary edited for useful facts. There is a scandal unfolding in corporate America that President Bush needs to stop, since fixing Social Security is his top domestic goal and securing the nation against terrorism his greatest duty. Key facts were revealed in an October report from the inspector general of the Social Security Administration (SSA). The report examines the records of 100 companies that filed the most W-2 reports from 1997-2001 on which the names and/or Social Security numbers did not match SSA records and SSA -- even after some investigation -- could not credit to a known taxpayer. SSA consigns these orphaned W-2s to what it calls the Earnings Suspense File (ESF). The "Top 100" worst filers of W-2s that ended up in the ESF, the inspector general discovered, collectively filed more than 2.7 million of these bad W-2s over the five years studied, reporting about $9.6 billion in wages unmatchable to a worker. The report does not name these "Top 100" companies. But it provides some details about them. For, example: o The No. 1 corporate filer of orphaned W-2s is based in Illinois. From 1997-2001, it filed 131,991 of these W-2s, reporting $524,933,538 in wages the government could not credit to a known taxpayer. o A Texas company was No. 2. It filed 108,302 orphaned W-2s over five years, reporting $532,964,026 in wages paid to unknown workers. o The problem got worse. "Our review of the Top 100 employer data also found that the average increase in suspended wage items between tax years 1997 and 2001 was approximately 69 percent," said the report. Now, this is an obvious scandal for Social Security. Workers with higher reported wages get bigger benefit checks in retirement. But as long as the $9.6 billion in wages reported by the "Top 100" companies on bad W-2s remains unmatched to any taxpayer, those who earned those wages and paid taxes on them may be denied their full Social Security benefits. Not to mention that there is more money in the pool for the rest of us. No, I don't think that makes this ok. These workers -- provided they were legally entitled to work in the United States -- are getting ripped off. Even if national security were not involved, that alone should cause President Bush to act. In fact, on June 25, 2002, following an SSA examination of the identities used by the September 11, 2001, hijackers, then-SSA Inspector General James G. Huse Jr. told the House Subcommittee on Crime that the hijackers used, among others, five counterfeit SSNs and one belonging to a child. "Because a terrorist, to be effective, must first be assimilated into American society, and because an SSN is a critical tool in the assimilation, it became apparent that the acquisition of an SSN was indispensable," Mr. Huse said. To make terrorist sharks easier to spot and capture, the government must drain their habitat. It can begin by no longer looking the other way when businesses hire illegal aliens. Mr. Huse told the Immigration Subcommittee: "Our reviews of the suspended wages in the ESF suggest that illegal work is the primary cause of suspended wages." |
| Posted by: trailing wife |
| #10 mojo - Lol! Sam had a LOT to say on the subject, heh. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-04-18 8:05:18 PM |
| #9 It's past April 15th. The IRS will have time to turn their attention to this in a month or so. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-04-18 8:01:02 PM |
| #8 There's "crediting to a known taxpayer" for purposes of Social Security... and then there's the little matter of the IRS. I'd think they'd be interested in this. $500M on 100k+ W-2s.. that's in the $4k-$5k each range. That's a real low tax bracket. Not much withholding there. A tidy sum expensed without taxes. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2005-04-18 7:03:12 PM |
| #7 It worked out. X2 got child support, the daughter went on to grow up and graduate, I paid my taxes and I never did it again. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-04-18 4:04:34 PM |
| #6 "Anybody who'd been married twice qualifies as a tour guide in Hell." -- Sam Kennison |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-04-18 3:48:04 PM |
| #5 The definition of Bachelor is someone who didn't make the same mistake once. |
| Posted by: BrerRabbit 2005-04-18 11:12:43 AM |
| #4 In my second divorce... Hearing stuff like this makes me thankful that I'm still single in my 40s. :) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-18 10:33:41 AM |
| #3 provided they were legally entitled to work in the United States That's a pretty big assumpotion given that we're talking Ilinois and Texas. That word assume... |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-04-18 10:16:37 AM |
| #2 Clearly I'm not clever enough ever to get divorced. I hope it all worked out, badanov. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-04-18 10:02:36 AM |
| #1 In my second divorce I accidentally gave a wrong social security number at a new job to shake my wife's attorney off my trail, and to give me enough time to gather money for the fight against her attorney. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-04-18 8:28:04 AM |