The head of the Internal Revenue Service says it's not the agency's job to crack down on illegal immigrants who use somebody else's Social Security number to get a job and pay their taxes, the agency’s commissioner says.
At a House Small Business Committee hearing Wednesday, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told lawmakers the agency's "responsibility is to make sure they pay their taxes,"
The Hill reports.
"We have Social Security and immigration authorities and others who enforce that part of the law, and if we start looking behind the system and doing their job for them, we’re going discourage a lot of people from paying the taxes they owe," he said, The Hill reports.
The remarks reinforce comments he made Tuesday at a Senate Finance Committee hearing — that it's in everybody's best interest for taxes to be paid — even by illegal immigrants.
"If folks are here illegally, I get that you want to collect tax revenues, and I applaud that aspect, but should any agency go along with what it knows to be illegal activity?" Virginia GOP Rep. Dave Brat asked Wednesday.
"Our responsibility is the administration of the tax code," Koskinen replied.