Descendants of slaves are not eligible for the modern equivalent of 40 acres and a mule, the Internal Revenue Service says.

The IRS has rejected about 20,000 claims for $43,209 each in what the filers say are reparations for their ancestors' enslavement and continuing discrimination against blacks.Congress passed a bill in 1866 requiring that Confederate property be confiscated to provide former slaves with 40 acres and a mule. But it was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson.

"There clearly is not statutory authority for honoring these claims," IRS spokesman Frank Keith said Wednesday. "We have taxpayers that are being misled and that's unfortunate."

He warned that taxpayers who refile subsequent claims after receiving a denial notice could be subject to a $500 penalty for filing frivolous returns.

Many of the tax forms have come in attached to a copy of a commentary published in the April 1993 issue of the black-oriented magazine Essence, the IRS said. Written by L.G. Sherrod, the commentary argued that racial discrimination functions as a hidden tax and urged readers to fill out Form 1040s as if they had paid $43,209 in "black taxes" and thereby collect a delinquent tax rebate.

"There should be no doubt in our minds about whether the U.S. government owes us reparations - our `40 acres and a mule,' plus interest," Sherrod wrote.

View Comments

Meanwhile, the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund has asked postal inspectors to investigate letters being distributed within black communities and black churches that purport to inform descendants of slaves about how they can claim the tax refund.

Theodore M. Shaw, associate director-counsel of the fund, which is separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the letters have a return address of College Park, Ga., and a letterhead with the name `Legal Defense Fund' and a logo similar to that of the NAACP fund.

"The real legal defense fund wants to get the word out to the black community that this group is not the NAACP Legal Defense Fund," Shaw said. "And, while there have been some legitimate and useful discussion about the idea of reparations . . . this is not a legitimate effort."

"We don't want people who are untutored to be misled into doing something in a tax return that will result in significant tax liability."

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.