How does anyone think that the following words from Jeff Sessions is not fear-mongering or ignorant or bigoted or true? But hey, Sessions is the Attorney General and it must be true, right? No, it’s not. It’s not even close but hey, Mexico’s gotta pay for a wall, right?
Here is what Sessions told This Week with George Stephanopoulos:
This is what Sessions said:
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. There are a lot of ways we can find money to help pay for this.
For those who really need some help with this one (like this guy), let’s break it down: Stephanopoulos asks Sessions about how Mexico is going to pay for a wall. Sessions, in a bizarre twist that makes so fucking sense, suggests that there are $4 billion floating around in incorrect tax credits for U.S. taxpayers that (wait for it, here is the stupid part) is actually going to “mostly Mexicans.” In other words, Mexicans are getting U.S. tax money?
POLITICO believes that Sessions was referring to “a July 2011 report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration that said individuals who are not authorized to work in the U.S. have been paid $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits.” Ok, but POLITICO said that the report “did not mention Mexicans or any other nationalities.” And (and this is a big and), a lot of the $4.2 billion in credits is given to people who can work in this country. But if we really want to get into facts, Sessions has to know that Mexicans aren’t likely to be a majority of the undocumented population in this country.
But hey, gotta blame someone. So let’s pin the blame on Mexico, because that’s what sells, right?
Hit it, Gollum.
(H/T Daily Kos)
