The executive director of North Carolina’s State Board of Elections is asking the head of the Division of Motor Vehicles for Social Security numbers of DMV customers who are also registered voters. The request is designed to help state elections officials “maintain the most accurate voter rolls possible.”
The bill curbs flag displays limits, requires licensing boards to verify Social Security numbers, and creates zoning exemptions for state projects in three counties.
RALEIGH — Two Honduran men living illegally in eastern North Carolina each will spend more than four years in federal prison for their roles in a scheme to collect millions of dollars in federal income tax refunds filed under fictitious identities, one of which was used to register to vote in Wake County. One of their aliases, “Eli Valle,” is listed as a registered unaffiliated voter in Wake County.
RALEIGH — As income-tax filing season for the 2013 tax year reaches its peak, billions of dollars in fraudulent refunds continue to flow to scam artists using stolen or fabricated identities and fake dependents to take advantage of a major loophole in the way the federal government issues refunds to individuals.
RALEIGH — In late November, Phillip Brooks from the Union County community of Marshville notified Carolina Journal that his address probably was being used as part of a scheme to collect a fraudulent federal tax refund check. Marshville is the third North Carolina locality at which CJ has found one or more tax refund checks sent to individuals who not only did not live at the recipient’s address but also, most likely, did not exist.
DURHAM — Stolen identity refund fraud occurs when criminals file fake tax returns in the name of a taxpayer, but do so before the real taxpayer gets around to it. Then, the IRS, in an effort to provide good service, sends a refund check to the criminal before it learns from employers if the refund actually is warranted. It’s been called the “No. 1 tax scam” of the year.
DURHAM — After receiving several pieces of mail addressed to four different persons at his home address on Sherron Road, and seeing strange people checking mailboxes on his street, a Durham resident concluded someone was using his mailbox in a tax-fraud scheme.
RALEIGH — North Carolina should stop making it easy for illegal immigrants to get state driver’s licenses, a new Spotlight report from the John Locke Foundation recommends.
RALEIGH — One of the prime architects of the Republican Revolution says conservatives need to rally around real reforms to maintain power. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich shared his ideas with Carolina Journal, on the eve of today’s John Locke Foundation Headliner luncheon in Charlotte. Related Article: N&O: Newt gauging presidential run
RALEIGH — Sen. Fern Shubert of Union County is sponsoring a bill that would strengthen laws governing the issuance of driver’s licenses and voter registration in North Carolina. Carolina Journal sat down with the lawmaker recently to discuss the legislation, the impact of fraudalent IDs, and why some members of the General Assembly oppose the idea of tightening license laws to exclude illegal immigrations from being eligible for them.
