Thurs. Oct. 31st
Happy Halloween! (Picture of Elvis and the Princess – 1994)
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The Alexis Agin Identity Theft Protection Act of 2013
Imagine, as painful as it is, that your child – or mother, brother, spouse – dies. Your world is turned upside down. Now imagine months later when it comes time to file your tax return, you learn that you are not allowed to file. Why? Because someone has stolen your loved one’s identity…and they’ve filed before you. Obtaining this confidential information must be hard to get, right? No. It’s so easy.
There is something that the federal government maintains called the Death Master File (DMF). The DMF has some legitimate purposes for the insurance and financial industries and they have the ability to purchase this information. I’ve got no problem with that…so long as there are safeguards. Unfortunately, ANYONE, from genealogical websites to fraudsters, can purchase this information as well.
Jonathan Agin, a friend in the battle against childhood cancer, had this very thing happen months after his little girl died. Her identity was stolen. The criminals legally accessed Alexis’ social security number, date of birth, date of death, and full address to file a fraudulent tax return.
Jonathan and his wife have spearheaded an effort, with the assistance of Reps. Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Xavier Becerra (D-CA), to introduce legislation that provides safeguards for all of us. It doesn’t just impact children who die (even though they are especially attractive targets for the fraudsters); they go after adults as well. The Alexis Agin Identity Theft Protection Act of 2013 would mandate that the Social Security Administration would not make the DMF available for 3 years following the death of an individual. This would allow the legitimate family to file the return first, which wasn’t afforded to the Agins. Furthermore, there would be safeguards that the insurance and financial industries would have to attest to in order to access this information.
It is estimated that this could save taxpayers $1.6 BILLION a year (conservatively). In full disclosure, the only group that would ‘lose’ in this bill would be the genealogical websites. I like family trees as much as the next guy, but I think they can find some other resources. The financial cost to taxpayers and, more importantly, the emotional cost to families of the deceased is far more significant an upside than any damage done to genealogical sites.
Please consider contacting your Congressman/woman and ask them to support this bill. Without your support, it probably won’t happen. Did you know that only 3% of bills ever get signed into law?!!
Thanks.
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W.L. Gore Visit
Thank you very much to the Appleton Central (Elkton, MD) offices for inviting me to be your speaker today at your United Way kick-off meetings. I appreciate your respectful attention to our story and our message. I hope you will consider supporting us through your campaign. While some United Way chapters require write-in numbers (i.e. DE 11776, Southeastern PA 47481), the United Way of Cecil County, MD only requires that you write in “The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation”.
I hope everyone will keep our kids and our mission in mind as you enroll/renew your respective employee giving campaigns. Thanks.
B+
Ali & Andrew’s Dad