The penalty for refusing to answer a census question is a $100 fine. It is worth that

[Atticus]

to me to respond : "Tell Trump to kiss my ass!" if I am asked "Are you a U.S. citizen?" Mrs. Atticus favors: "Go to hell!" and agrees it is worth the fine.

[Shell_Seas]

1. Not everyone has $100 to burn.

[Atticus]

3. I understand we are more fortunate than many. But, that is, nonetheless, how we intend

to respond.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. Uhhh...you might want to read this

from Lucid dreamer's link, down thread.

the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 effectively increased these minimum fines to $5,000.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/03/can-you-get-in-trouble-for-not-filling-out-your-census-form.html

[Atticus]

22. Yes, I saw that, and it does raise the stakes, but the same article indicates that actual enforcemen

is very rare. I hope I don't have to decide.

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Other than the $$$

I totally agree with the issue. I've spent most of my life trying not to sleep with the enemy, as it were.

[csziggy]

2. I favor redacting the question

If it's legal for Bill Barr to do with the Mueller Report, it should be legal for people to do it to a question the Supreme Court said should not be in the Census.

[notdarkyet]

7. I'm probably not answering..I'm going to hide in the masses. I could redact.p

[csziggy]

9. Yesterday I compared it to draft resisters singing Alice's Restaurant

As the song suggested.

You know, if one person, just one person, does it, they may think he's
Really sick and they won't take him

And if two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and
They won't take either of them

And if three people do it! Can you imagine three people walkin' in, singin'
A bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out? They may think it's an
Organization!

And can you imagine fifty people a day? I said FIFTY people a day
Walkin' in, singin' a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" and walkin' out? Friends
They may think it's a Movement, and that's what it is THE Alices's
Restaurant anti-massacre movement! And all you gotta do to join is to
Sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar

If one person redacts, they are either crazy or a Republican. If two do it, they are a couple, three are an Organization - but if FIFTY do it, it's a Movement!

[Big Blue Marble]

4. That would be foolish

unless you are in a red district. Anyone in a blue district wants to strengthen it's numbers
for more representation.

[Atticus]

5. 1.) I'm in a SCARLET red area, and, 2.) I fail to see how refusing to answer one question will

impact anyone's numbers.

[Big Blue Marble]

11. With this adminstration,

it could invalidate your census survey. I would be careful.

[NYC Liberal]

20. Strike the "could". I guarantee they will invalidate any surveys with anything funky done to them,

whether they’re legally allowed to or not.

That’s pretty much the entire purpose of this whole fight – to reduce the representation of their political opponents.

[safeinOhio]

6. What is the fine for lying on the form.

Might be cheaper.

[safeinOhio]

8. I looked it up $500.

[Delmette2.0]

10. What if we refuse to answer based on the SCOTUS decision?

[ooky]

12. Don't return it at all and then they have to find you.

Max penalty still $100. I live in a gerrymandered state anyway. Why should I help them get more Republican seats?

[Jim__]

13. Who enforces the fine?

If the Supreme Court has ruled that the question is invalid, the courts shouldn't enforce a penalty for not answering it.

[fescuerescue]

15. Bureau of Census

[fescuerescue]

14. They will probably just default non-answers to "not us citizen"

Non citizens are forced to lie all the time about their citizenship. With every job, application. This will just just one more.

Also, I don't think the fine has ever been levied.

[Johonny]

16. I believe "kiss my ass you racist bastard Trump", will be my answer

and I didn't refuse to answer. I can always claim my teleprompter broke and I misspoke on my form if they press the issue.

[struggle4progress]

17. Who ever gets fined for it?

[Lucid Dreamer]

19. Seems not many people are actually fined for violations of census law.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/03/can-you-get-in-trouble-for-not-filling-out-your-census-form.html

During the last U.S. Census, 10 years ago, Ted Rose looked at what might happen if you neglect to fill out your form. That “Explainer” column has been updated, and reprinted below.
Earlier this week, American households began receiving the 98 million Census forms sent out by the federal government. Each envelope says, “Your response is required by law.” What law is this? Has anybody been prosecuted for not responding?
The Census Bureau likes to stress the positive benefits of participation in the survey, but the proverbial stick does exist. Under Title 13 of the U.S. Code, you can be fined up to $100 for refusing to complete a census form and $500 for answering questions falsely. However, the Website for the U.S. Census Bureau points out that the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 effectively increased these minimum fines to $5,000. Noncompliance used to bring the possibility of a 60-day prison sentence and a one-year prison term for false answers, but Congress struck those provisions in 1976.

https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/jan/09/us-census-bureau/americans-must-answer-us-census-bureau-survey-law-/

Unenforced mandate?
Our search for more information yielded a Jan. 9, 2013, commentary by David Whiting of the Orange County (Calif.) Register quoting a bureau spokeswoman, Jennifer Smits, saying that nobody had been fined for failing to participate to date. By telephone, bureau spokeswoman Stacy Gimbel Vidal told us that remains so; no fines have been levied. The bureau, she said, is "really not in the business of prosecuting people who don’t comply."
On July 18, 2012, Andrew Reamer, a research professor at George Washington University, told a U.S. Senate subcommittee that the bureau had not prosecuted someone for not responding to a survey since the 1960 census. Not quite: Bureau spokesman Brian Lavin told us by email that no one has been prosecuted for failing to respond to a survey since the 1970 census.

[customerserviceguy]

25. A law without enforcement

is merely a suggestion.

[Everyman Jackal]

18. How can you answer a question that is not on the form.

If they add it later on its own form just throw that form away. If they ask you where is the form just answer what form. If they say it is the citizen form ask them if they put a form in your documents that The Supreme Court said could not be in it. Ask them if they believe in The Constitution. Ask them what other illegal things they do for the government. Tell them you are going to turn them into the FBI. Ask them if their boss told them to find out where the form is. Ask them for his or her name so you can turn them into the FBI also. Ask them if they want you to do something illegal for the government. Ask them if they are working for the Russians. Ask them if they know the words to the Russian National Anthem. I may even sing it to them. I will probably come up with more questions by the time I receive the census. When you have dementia you would be surprised what you can get away with.

[sprinkleeninow]

30. Oh my dog. You made me laugh so!

"Ask them what other illegal things they do for the government. Tell them you are going to turn them into the FBI. Ask them if their boss told them to find out where the form is. Ask them for his or her name so you can turn them into the FBI also. Ask them if they want you to do something illegal for the government. Ask them if they are working for the Russians. Ask them if they know the words to the Russian National Anthem. I may even sing it to them."

😆

[LiberalFighter]

23. Isn't responding with that an answer?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

24. Really?

I worked for the Census in 2010, looking over submitted forms and requesting enumerators revisit certain addresses. For what it's worth, I was totally unaware of any potential fines.

I got sort of a laugh when I'd see a form that wasn't filled in at all, and the person had scrawled something like, "THIS IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!!! across it. We'd send an enumerator to that address.

But I wasn't aware of anyone being fined.

I might apply for a similar job this time around.

[Unrepentant Fenian]

27. NO BODY should answer this question if the asshole forces it into the census!

[krispos42]

28. I don't see how anybody can prove somebody answered...

...with a lie anyway. Census info that contains personally identifiable information is private for 72 years.

[MichMan]

34. Why would people be afraid to answer then?

I'll be dead long before it could be determined what my citizen status was.

IMO, the only thing that should be asked is how many people there are living in a household. All the other questions on things like ethnicity, income and others dont belong anyways.

[fishwax]

29. whether we answer is pretty immaterial ... the point is to intimidate and thus force an undercount

specifically in democratic-leaning states and districts.

I mean, I won't discourage anyone from protesting the question in any way they see fit, and I agree with you that a $100 fine for that would be worth it. But at this point it doesn't even matter, at least for the GOP's primary goal with the form, whether it's even on the form--enough people will have heard that it WILL be on the form that a fair amount will be scared off.

Theoretically, when people don't fill out the census form the census bureau is supposed to follow up. Somehow I don't think that will be a priority for trump's administration.

[sprinkleeninow]

32. How often is the census taken? eom

[sprinkleeninow]

33. Answered my own question. The census taking is done randomly.

Haven't seen hide nor hair of one for two decades. The neighbor next door had a follow-up like in April. I dint give it a thought.

AARP website warns of scammers and spoofers. It says there are questions about income and freaking 'amenities'? Yah, we don't have no flippin' outhouse anymore!

[fishwax]

36. it's every ten years -- I'm surprised you didn't get one in 2010

[sprinkleeninow]

31. BBC WORLD NEWS:

schlupper refuses to back down from that citizenship ? he is drooling to get.

[GoCubsGo]

35. Got to pay for the reprint somehow.

The forms are already at the printers, so chances are, this is just a big distraction, anyway. Mueller will be testifying this week. Look! Squirrel!

That being said, the damage has been done. A lot of people are going to to assume the question is on there, and not fill out their census anyway. If the syphilitic, orange wankmaggot winds up getting his way, and it's a "check YES or NO", I will be checking both of them.