There are times when the obvious hits you between the eyes with such force that you just can’t take two aspirin and wait for dawn. did just that. There are supposedly about a million Chinese “birthright citizens” who can now vote in US elections. That also means that they are US taxpayers. Hmmm… Time for a little thought experiment.
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These US citizens in China are subject to the Internal Revenue Code. That means that they must file Income Tax Returns annually, just like the rest of us. Failure to File is usually a civil offense under IRC § 6651. If there is a willful decision not to file, it becomes a federal misdemeanor under 26 U.S.C. § 7203. That’s worth a year in the crossbar hotel and a $25,000 penalty for every year a return isn’t filed.
Let’s assume Trump tells Secretary Bessent to pursue this avenue. Assuming mass compliance, the US Treasury will get money from China. They will get all the headaches, including Taxpayer Compliance Measurement Program audits.
“What’s that?” you ask. Having been through a TCMP audit, they’re not fun. The auditor will demand detailed records on everything you did financially for the year in question. Your Quicken files aren’t allowed. Your checkbook is no good. You must bring bank statements, which is fun in an era of electronic banking. I even had to get a letter from a law firm documenting a donation to a church because there were legal issues involved. You get the picture. Every drive-through lunch gets checked.
So, here’s the scenario. We pick up all the birth certificates from California (after fighting for them in court). Then we send every Chinese US citizen a notice of failure to file, accompanied by an imputed tax amount. That’s another fun power of the IRS. They can tell you what you earned, send a bill, and require you to pay or prove them wrong. And you can only do that in the US.
If a hypothetical Ms. Hua doesn’t reply, then the situation escalates to willful failure to file, which is a federal misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail. The IRS will look at your assets, reaching through your family to your share of that company in Kansas City, and attach them for non-payment. It can’t send a wage garnishment, since your employment isn’t known. But if that attachment isn’t satisfied within a proper amount of time, the IRS will happily assume control of that company.
How can the IRS know where you are living? If you have entered the US, there will be an address, and your parents gave one when they came here for your birth. If the demand letters are unanswered, that’s prima facie evidence of intent. But if they don’t have the address, your correspondence can be delivered to the nearest Chinese consulate, resulting in a signed receipt.
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Once the threshold of willfulness is crossed, Hua’s goose is well and truly cooked. The IRS can go to court with its criminal charges. The court summons will again be delivered to the consulate. When Hua fails to appear, the IRS can ask for a default verdict of “guilty.” That will result in an arrest warrant, which will then be delivered to the consulate.
This all puts the Chinese government in a box. If they agree to extradite Hua to the US, they are admitting that we have authority over someone they consider to be their citizen. If they tell us to pound sand, then Hua is now a convicted criminal on the lam from US law. Maybe the US will drop the charges if she renounces her US citizenship?
And now for where all this is headed.
Anyone who watches the NatGeo series Contraband, Seized at the Border knows that every person crossing the US border gets an ID check. Hua’s passport will show her outstanding arrest warrant. A Federal Marshall will be called to apply bracelets and conduct her to jail. There are no ballots in that jail.
One more little action must be completed. Trump must require the State Department to assemble a list of US citizens who are legitimately outside of the US and eligible to vote. US Post Offices must then check that list when a ballot is addressed outside the US. If the addressee isn’t on the list, no ballot.
Yes, this is a thought experiment. But the laws and principles are there. We have the legal authority to stop any Chinese birth tourism citizen from ever voting in a US election. All it takes is the will to make it happen. If the President sees this, I’d bet he’d want to make it happen.
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