Did President Joe Biden announce a program that would effectively bring back slavery? Social media users feared as much after a supposed announcement of a new tax incentive program.
“Just in: President Biden announces tax incentives for families willing to take in slav– migrants in a new ‘Housing for Labor’ initiative,” read the text in a Feb. 18 Instagram post. “‘You can now apply to keep a migrant in your home in exchange for cooking, cleaning, picking crops, and landscaping.’”
(Screenshot from Instagram)
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We checked, and there’s no such initiative. The claim originated from a satirical post.
The text came from a Feb. 16 X post by the account “U.S. Ministry of Truth.” Its bio says, “Satire or prophecy depending on the day.”
It tagged the IRS’ X account, but the agency’s social media accounts and website showed no such initiative. We also found no news reports and no Google or Nexis search results show such a program exists.
IRS spokesman Eric Smith told PolitiFact that “the IRS has not announced or been involved in announcing any housing-related initiatives.” We also reached out to the White House for comment.
The State Department does have a private sponsorship program called Welcome Corps, in which groups of five or more Americans voluntarily assist refugees during their first 90 days in the U.S. Initial services provided include assistance with securing affordable housing.
But Biden didn’t announce a “Housing for Labor” initiative that would give tax incentives for families willing to take in migrants. We rate that claim False.