The "Slave Reparations Act" (also called the Slavery Reparation Tax Credit, Black Tax Credit or Black Inheritance Tax Refund) is a

tax fraud Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trust (property), trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax au ...

related to the concept of

reparations for slavery Reparations for slavery are reparations for victims of slavery. Reparations can take many forms, including financial compensation, legal remedy of damages, public apology and guarantees of non-repetition. Victims of slavery can refer to hist ...

. The scam claims that filers can receive $5,000 or increased social security payouts for

African-Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

born in the United States between 1911 and 1926. It claims that African-Americans are entitled to a $5,000 slavery reparation tax credit. Below is a sample solicitation: The goal of the scam is to get the victim to send all of their information to the scammer. By doing this, the scammer will gain the ability to commit

identity theft Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. ...

on the victim. This scam may have resulted from unpassed congressional legislation in 1999 to explore slave reparations. The bill, H.R. 40, would have created a commission to study the possibility of actual reparations to slave families. Another payout quotes $43,209 (~$ in ) as the estimated value of " 40 acres and a mule," supposedly laid out in an 1866 bill that was passed by Congress but was vetoed by President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...

. No such bill was entered into Congress in 1866. It is based on an actual order by Union General

William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

, Special Field Order No. 15, that set aside land from

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

for the exclusive use of freed slaves. Each family would receive from this holding. Sherman may have acted on his own authority. No record exists of President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

or the War Department authorizing this action. The

Freedmen's Bureau The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. government agency of early post American Civil War Reconstruction, assisting freedmen (i.e., former enslaved people) in the ...

controlled over of confiscated land in 1865, and many of its officials intended to settle blacks on it. As President Johnson began to restore property to former Confederates, commissioner

Oliver Otis Howard Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War. As a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men again ...

issued Circular 13. The document, put out in July, ordered rapid establishment of forty-acre plots in violation of presidential pardons.Foner, Eric (1988). '' Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution – 1863–1877, ''.

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

. pp. 158–159. In response to Sherman's precedent and Howard's instructions, the White House issued Howard's Circular 15 in September 1865 ordering restoration of land to pardoned owners and taking them back from freed slaves who had received them under Special Field Order No. 15. The

Southern Homestead Act of 1866 The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 was a United States federal law intended to offer land to prospective farmers, white and black, in Southern United States, the South following the American Civil War. It was repealed in 1876 after mostly benefi ...

did make public land in some states available to freed slaves. Most of this land was swampy or distant from travel routes or was claimed by lumber companies. In April 2002, the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

(IRS) received more than 100,000 attempts to claim reparation tax credits and paid out more than $30 million (~$ in ) in erroneous refunds. The IRS continued to report false tax credit scams and claims in 2003 and 2004.

References

External links

IRS article on Frivolous Tax Arguments

Snopes "Black Tax Credit" debunk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slavery Reparations Scam Confidence tricks Taxation in the United States Reparations for slavery in the United States

See also

References

External links