Woman sues Trump, IRS over exclusion from stimulus checks
A Wisconsin woman who can’t get the $1,200 stimulus check sent to millions of Americans because her husband immigrated to the U.S. says excluding her from the program violates her constitutional rights, including to marry who she wants.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe, seeks class action status for her lawsuit, filed in federal court in Madison. It asks that a judge declare unconstitutional the provision of the CARES Act that excludes stimulus payments from citizens who jointly file tax returns with a spouse who doesn’t have a Social Security number.
It also seeks an injunction against application of that portion of the CARES Act because, “Defendants have intentionally excluded otherwise eligible U.S. Citizens from receiving the Stimulus Check and, more damaging, excluding them from a benefit conferred upon all other U.S. Citizens simply because of whom they chose to marry, which is facially discriminatory and retributive.”
Doe’s suit says her husband pays taxes, but because he uses an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, on their joint tax return, not a Social Security number, she — and the couple’s four minor children — have been denied the stimulus money.
The CARES Act provides $1,200 per U.S. citizen earning less than $75,000 annually, and $500 for each of his or her minor children.
The suit notes that if one spouse in a married couple is in the military, only one of them need have a Social Security number in order to collect a stimulus payment. Neither Doe nor her husband were in the U.S. armed forces in 2019.
According to the suit, approximately 1.2 million Americans are married to someone without a Social Security number, and about 4.3 million people file tax returns with an ITIN, accounting for about $9 billion in payroll taxes. Not all taxpayers who use ITINs are undocumented immigrants; many have legal status.
The lawsuit, one of several similar cases being filed around the country, names as defendants President Donald Trump, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, as well as the IRS, the Treasury Department and the United States.
Doe says the defendants disparage and humiliate her and family by denying all mixed-status married couples stimulus payments given to other families. Doe and other people married to immigrants could file separate tax returns, but her suit points out that filing jointly reduces the tax owed for most married couples.
The suit says Doe is being deprived of property without due process, as there is no avenue to contest or appeal her exclusion from the CARES Act payments
The government does not have any valid basis to discriminate on the basis of who someone decides to marry, much less a compelling interest, the suit says, and can’t show that it serves “any legitimate governmental interest.”
Vivian Khalaf, one of Jane Doe’s attorneys, said some plaintiffs are anonymous because they fear negative repercussions for their spouses, who might be seeking legal status or citizenship.