Illegal immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in public services and assistance, a Wall Street Journal editorial argued. In addition to paying sales taxes, most immigrants pay federal and state income taxes as well as property taxes, which are factored into housing rental rates. Yet they often aren’t eligible to receive many of the benefits those taxes pay for. In fact, payroll taxes paid by illegals are helping keep Medicare and Social Security solvent. As the editorial noted: “The Social Security actuaries recently calculated that over the next 75 years immigrant workers will pay some $5 trillion more in payroll taxes than they will receive in Social Security benefits.”
The state of Kansas also makes money from illegals, the Kansas City Star reported. It requires them to pay state income taxes but refuses to refund any overpayments if the Social Security numbers they use aren’t accurate. What a deal.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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37 Comments
It is a money making scheme, it benefits the rich and powerful elites.It pretty much explains the apathy of our government and law enforcement for the last ten years to do something about the illegal immigrants.
The WSJ story is more balanced, and more macro in it’s focus than Mr Brownlee’s comments. (”what a deal”) The story goes on to talk about the benefits they receive, such as roads and schools, that are not included in the tally.I don’t know if he’s suggesting something or not, but there are a lot of imbalances in any social system. For example, I pay Medicaid taxes, but will never qualify for such relief. From whom the system taxes, and to whom the system gives are two different things. There are plenty of people (Single people especially) who pay more than “their” share. The system is not designed to be fair on any case-by-case basis. Notice the income levels of immigrants in the WSJ story after people have been here a while.The bottom line is, if this is such an injustice to these poor souls, why do they risk their lives to get here? Even if all their contributions to the system is for naught, their children are still born Americans. I do have compassion for the plight of the immigrants, even the illegal ones. But my heart doesn’t bleed to the point that I think the coffers should open up to them.
Welcome to the club, Jose. So am I.
Hank
They may pay more in taxes but they take more in social programs.
Somebody better check their calculator on this one. I understand that the less you put in the more you get out of Social Security because of the skewed system. And I’ll bet their calculations don’t take into account all the family members that are ultimately going to be in the public trough either.
JayW
They are not taking into account things such as food stamps, SRS, health care, etc…
Here are some statistics from the Los Angeles Times:
40 percent of all workers are working for cash and not paying taxes. Why would they want to be legal and pay taxes? They would be able to start bringing the rest of their families to the USA.
75 percent of people on L.A.’s most-wanted list are illegal aliens.
Over two-thirds of all births are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by the taxpayers.
Nearly 25 percent of all inmates in California detention centers are here illegally.
Over 300,000 illegals are living in garages.
The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegals from south of the border.
Nearly 60 percent of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
Of the 10 million people in Los Angeles County, 5.1 million speak English and 3.9 million speak Spanish.
21 radio stations in Los Angeles are Spanish speaking.
More statistics:
Less than 2 percent of illegals are picking crops but 29 percent are on welfare.
Over 70 percent of the U.S. annual population growth (over 90 percent of California, Florida and New York) are from immigration.
29 percent of inmates in the federal prisons are illegal aliens.
The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a negative.
They also send between about $15 billion back to Mexico to assist their families and prop up the corrupt Mexican government that keeps most of its citizens in poverty. >How about a revolt in their own country!<
A new figure from the LA Times: It cost Los Angeles $276 million in welfare costs for 100,000 children of illegal aliens.
Tony,
Can you link to the article you’re quoting?
Thanks.
A good article from the LA Times on the point system…
Immigration reform plan’s points system doesn’t add up, critics say:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-points24may24,1,4232647.story?ctrack=2&cset=true
Tony,
You must have misunderstood my request. In your 8:51 post, you quoted several facts/statistics, and attributed them to the LA Times. Could you please give me the link to *that* article, the one(s) you’re quoting?
Thanks.
Bush will soon have them eligible to get their tax refunds, and SS benefits, in addition to all other entitlements.
Golly, since they are getting such a bad deal here by paying more in taxes than what they get in social services, maybe they should go home!!!!
Schooling, hospital care, medical care, prison…they’re leaving out a WHOLE lot of payout. And it is just plain wrong to work these people on slave wages to line the pockets of those who employ them.
Let’s just offer them visas, without the rights and benefits of citizenship. Lock up the borders, or mine them.
Undocumented workers are paid in cash. Thats why they’re undocumented, as well as illegal. The only tax they pay is sales tax, when they make purchases with the money they dont send back to Mexico.
Wow…did people even read the articles linked to by Brownlee’s blog entry? Are people impervious to facts?
I think the problem lies with undocumented workers more than the documented workers.
What happens is a family member from Mexico gets on the payroll legitimately and then brings his/her family along.
That family member who is documented carries the license to steal from the U.S. Government by being the pivot point for all his undocumented family’s needs.
The family can get Medicaid, welfare and other funds because of the pivotal family head who is documented.
Other member in the family can work undocumented and make a living usually at lower wages, but nonetheless adds to the family total income. These funds are not included of course, when it comes to applying for welfare, Medicaid, etc.
I saw this a lot when I lived in San Antonio Texas where there is a huge number of undocumented workers.
It’s a science that many undocumented workers have down pat and they don’t mind abusing it.
If I had 20 family members living in one house, we would make out like bandits even if we were making minimum wage.
You tell me, what landlord would rent to a white person that had 20 family members in a 2 or 3 bedroom house? Answer: None
But in the case of illegals, it is done all the time.
People rather foolishly try to compare the migration invasion we are under with the Italian, or German immigration we had in the early 20th century. But is is a bogus comparison. We have an ocean between the Italian and German borders. With Mexico we have an essentially uncontrolled 2000 mile contiguous border.
And the Italian and German immigration was STOPPED for 40 years to allow assimilation.
With no end in site , especially with the stupendously idiotic CHAIN Familial system it will never end. And Familial immigration makes for terrible assimilation. They tend to stay with families and take forever to learn the language customs etc.
The last calculation I saw on the numbers of “family” that one person could potentially bring in was over 100.
It should be limited to parents and child…end. No cousins, 1st cousins, 2nd cousins, uncles, great uncles etc.
And any “guests” should be exempt of the Birthright citizenship, the same as the countries Ambassadors are. The Mexican ambassadors wife is NOT allowed to have an anchor baby. Neither should an illegal, or any other temporary guest.
Ireland and Australia just canceled their Birthright citizenship , so it can be done. The immigration thing is why they stopped theirs.
You end up with a chain reaction of ever increasing amount if you dont.
Remember we were promised in 1965 and in 86 that the then 3 Million illegals would be stopped.
Now 20 million later, they are still coming…..and will continue, without armed intervention at the border. Which is likely to be required.
I believe the issue first has to be to get the border under control. Build that fence that Congress gave 50 million dollars to build. Then hire thousands of border patrol agents to further secure the border. Mine the last 100 feet leading up to the fence. Only then can you address the current illegals living in the country. This amnesty program is putting the cart before the horse.
Lastly, you must give local authorities the ability to hunt down illegals and punish the employers for hiring them. Once the noose is tightened around the necks of illegals they will have choices to make.
Let’s not sit and b**ch about the taxes they don’t pay. Let’s figure out a way to keep illegals out.
I heard on the news the other day that some Texas onion ranchers were complaining because they could not find enough migrant farm workers to harvest their fields. When asked the wages, they were paying $7 - $10/hr for the back-breaking work. The rancher made the statement even if they offered $20/hr, no Americans would take the job.
I would like to see evidence of this rancher actually offering $20/hr for his fields to be harvested. I think the problem is employers want cheap labor and they are throwing out the excuses that they cannot find needed workers so they need more illegals to come so they can continue to pay the lower wages. Illegal immigration amounts to greedy profits, just follow the money.
I think many of the arguements here are putting the cart before the horse. Lets start from step one.
1. The ratio of native born Americans to immigrants is increasing. Is that a problem our country must deal with? (Note: this is All immigrants, no distinction between legal and illegal yet.)1a. Why is it a problem?1b. What will happen if the current situation is unchanged?
2. Should we allow anyone not born in America to come in at all? (Note: including relatives of Americans, tourists, workers, Japanese baseball players here for an exhibition game, etc.)2a. How do we decide who to let in?2b. Who do we let in, who do we keep out, and why?2c. Do we have the infrastructure to ensure that we do not let in those we do not want to? Are we willing to spend the money necessary to ensure we keep out those we do not want in America?
3. Assuming the pool of money the Government can spend each year is a fixed amount, is this the best use of those funds?
I hope I did not kill this one
Too many complex questions Brian…..lol. You pose all the questions that neither party can answer. So I guess you win…..lol
Unfortunately, unless someone is willing and able to answer those questions truthfully and honestly, there will be no winner.
Brian –Have the thoughts of why they leave their own country to come here answers any of your questions?What people do not consider is that the cultures and ways of living that the immigrants bring into our country some are contrary to the beliefs of our nation’s laws.What they are running from, they bring it into our society such as radical groups and the type of crimes that burden their own country.We are taking in more then business partners but we are also taking in the ills of their society.
Wiseman, you seem to have some good ideas. Would you like to try your hand at putting down in black and white Specific answers to the questions I posed? They were not rhetorical, I am curious if anyone has any good ideas on the topic.
“brian” –
If your questions didn’t kill this thread, perhaps my resoponses will. We can only hope.
You wrote:1. The ratio of native born Americans to immigrants is increasing. Is that a problem our country must deal with? (Note: this is All immigrants, no distinction between legal and illegal yet.)
– The “ratio of native-born Americans to immigrants” has constantly increased since 1604 when the Jamestown Colony was created. Truth be known, even before that, since the Spanish were settling what is now the American Southwest well back intoo the 1500s.
1a. Why is it a problem?
– It always as been. We’ve always survived it. (Well, except for the original native-born Americans.
1b. What will happen if the current situation is unchanged?
– Employers of a sub-class of workers will continue to thrive with impunity.
2. Should we allow anyone not born in America to come in at all? (Note: including relatives of Americans, tourists, workers, Japanese baseball players here for an exhibition game, etc.)
– Might as well ask “If we flap our arms fast enough could we fly like bumblebees?” It’s impossible to prevent, even if there were extremely valuable financial incentives to lure and hire people who will work for sub-standard wages.
2a. How do we decide who to let in?
– Perhaps by determining which skill-sets cannot be filled by native-born Americans at a truly competitive wage. (This probably would have to extend to Iraqis who served American troops during the disastrous occupation spawned by George WMD Bush; but be prepared for pockets of new communities that’ll primarily speak Arabic for a generation or two).
2b. Who do we let in, who do we keep out, and why?
– Get rid of the carrot that attracts people to work for sub-standard wages and benefits. If America needs East Indian-educated engineers and code-writers, they’d be let in as long as they’re paid the same as American-born applicants; same job skills, same pay, same bennies.
2c. Do we have the infrastructure to ensure that we do not let in those we do not want to? Are we willing to spend the money necessary to ensure we keep out those we do not want in America?
– If corporations that currently hire workers for sub-standard wages were held accountable for hiring undocumented workers — and the Fortune 500 Board of Directors had to hold their annual meetings inside the walls of Leavenworth Prison — compliance with exisitng immigration laws (such as Ronald Reagan’s immigration “reforms” of 1987) would lead to less incentive for 3rd World workers coming into this nation.
3. Assuming the pool of money the Government can spend each year is a fixed amount, is this the best use of those funds?
– Again, a false premise. We’ll need more 2007 dollars than we needed 1987 dollars. But if the 1987 “reforms” had been enforced, there wouldn’t be an incentive for people to come across our boarders and work for sub-standard wages.
—
Hope this helps.
The “working poor” who are here legally do NOT pay social security tax, in an real sense.
That get their Social Security taxes refunded to them through the “Earned Income Credit.”
undocumented workers SUCK!
You know, I have great sympathy for anyone trying to support a family, but the Mexican people, still in Mexico, better get their act together and make their own people aware of how bad they look.
Some shouted “Osama, Osama” at a soccer game a few years ago.
Now look what they did to Miss USA!
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8PE7IH00&show_article=1
The next problem will be with the usual race industry. It can already see that a new Latino constituency is available for its use.
With just a few million unassimilated here in American Southwest, and it will require an entire suite of special interest.
They will be new racial gerrymandering politicians, new Leftist Radical Racial Academics, and Ethno-Centric journalists, as well as providing some sort of psychological tweaking for an array of past perceived ethnic grievances.
The blacks have essentially been mollified by their racist pimps, ie Sharpton, Jackson etc.
So all the above will be need, then the big goodies will start to flow from the Kennedy types to pay off for our previous ______ (insert here)
“Now look what they did to Miss USA!”
Oh my goodness! They dissed Miss USA, even after she fell on her ass. Holy cow! What a bunch of savages. They were chanting Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!
That would never happen in the USA!!!!!
Let’s invade Mexico.
They just gotta fix their own country…they have to stand up and make changes there.
Brian, I cannot offer you any good ideals, as I am trying to learn the unbiased truthful reasons to the immigration problem without being tied to a political party stance, answers to your questions are very hard to put in simple terms.I can give you a link to the Economic Policy Institute that is very helpful and will answer some of your questions, maybe not all questions.http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp186.html
Illegal alien immigration simply shifts the cost of labor from the employer to the taxpayer. The taxpayer is subsidizing a cheap labor force for those employers willing to break the law.
Study: Illegal Immigration costs far outweigh labors!
Topic: illegal Border crossing immigrants.
Low-skilled legal immigrants and illegal aliens in the U.S. are receiving much more in federal social welfare benefits than they pay in taxes at a net cost of $89 billion a year to American taxpayers, according to a Heritage Foundation study.
A cost-benefit analysis by the conservative think tank of the immigration reform bill being debated in the Senate — which it said would grant what many consider amnesty to illegal aliens and increase the flow of low-skilled workers into the U.S. — warned that if the legislation becomes law, it would result in “the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years.”
“Such proposals would increase poverty in the U.S. in the short and long term and dramatically increase the burden on U.S. taxpayers,” said Robert E. Rector, senior research fellow for welfare at Heritage and the co-author of the study with Christine Kim.
Daniel Griswold, director of Cato’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, acknowledged that lower-skilled workers on average “consume more in government services than they pay in taxes.” But he pointed to several studies that showed their work in many low-skill industries, from agriculture to construction, also helped expand state economies somewhat.
“The right policy response to the fiscal concerns about immigration is not to artificially suppress labor migration but to control and reallocate government spending,” Mr. Griswold said in a recent paper.
Mr. Rector amassed a significant amount of data drawn from the U.S. census surveys that he said showed how a wave of poorly educated, low-income immigrants and illegals were imposing increasing costs on the country through 60 means-tested aid programs, from welfare to food stamps for immigrant families with children born in this country.
“Each year, roughly 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants enter and take up residence in the U.S. This immigrant flow is disproportionately poorly educated because illegal immigration primarily attracts low-skill workers and the legal immigration system favors kinship ties over skill levels,” he said.
According to Heritage, the nation has 4.5 million low-skilled immigrant households containing 15.9 million people, or about 5 percent of the population. About 60 percent of these households were headed by legal immigrants and 40 percent by illegals, the study said.
Contrary to a belief among many Americans that low-skilled, low-paid immigrants do not pay any taxes, Mr. Rector said, “These families are rarely idle; they consistently work and pay taxes.”
But the taxes they pay seldom cover the costs of the substantial benefits they receive, he said.
In fiscal 2004, “the average low-skill immigrant household received $30,160 in direct benefits, means-test benefits, education and population-based services from all levels of government,” he said. In return, however, these households on average paid only $10,573 in taxes that year.
Mr. Rector said the solution is to “reduce the costs of low-skill immigration to the taxpayers” by enforcing laws against employing illegal aliens, making a guest-worker program “truly temporary and not a gateway to welfare entitlements,” ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens and ruling out any amnesty in the immigration reform bill.
WSIf we DID “invade” Mexico, and ran their industry and government, the Mexicans might quit invading the USA!
Again, it is the corruption and stupidity of the Mexican government which is the root of this problem.
Some leadership would also help! Their leaders should TELL them that public anti-American sentiment is not helpful. What do the Mexicans in Mexico have to be mad about? Most of them would starve if not for the USA!
On September 27, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced that the DREAM Act would not be considered as an amendment to H.R. 1585, the Defense Department authorization bill for fiscal year 2008.
The Washington Times reports, however, that Reid will push for passage of the DREAM Act, which would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, by different means (possibly in its stand-alone form [S. 774, sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin {D-Ill.}]) before the Senate adjourns for the year (i.e., on or about November 16).
Reid’s concession on the DoD authorization bill may doom other immigration-related amendments to the defense bill as well.
Please fax your senators: We have stopped the DREAM Act for now, but there is already a push to pass it as a stand-alone bill.
Senator Sam Brownback contact information- Taken from his web site
Office location Phone # Fax #Washington DC office 1-202-224-6521 1-202-228-1265Overland Park Office 1-913-492-6378 1-913-492-7253Topeka office 1-785-233-2503 1-785-233-2616Garden City office 1-620-231-6040 1-620-231-6347Wichita office 1-316-264-8066 1-316-264-9078
Senator Pat Roberts Contact Information Taken from his web site
Washington DC office 1-202-224-4774 1-202-224-3514Overland Park Office 1-913-451-9343 1-913-451-9446Topeka office 1-785-295-2745 1-785-235-3665Wichita office 1-316-263-0416 1-316-263-0273Dodge City Office 1-620-227-2244 1-620-227-2264
Representative Todd Tiahrt, Contact information taken from his web site
Wichita OfficeAddress: 155 North Market St.Suite 400Wichita, KS 67202Phone: 316.262.8992Fax: 316.262.5309Washington OfficeAddress: 2441 Rayburn BuildingWashington, DC 20515Phone: 202.225.6216Fax: 202.225.3489