Iowa Policy Project: Undocumented Immigrants in Iowa: Estimated Tax Contributions and Fiscal Impact
ITEP Work in ActionThis report examines undocumented immigrants in Iowa and their state tax contributions. Undocumented immigration remains a controversial issue in the United States, especially as the failure of federal immigration legislation has contributed to what the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) describes as “an unprecedented level of activity” in state legislative bodies as states seek to develop their own policy solutions to the issue of undocumented immigration.1
Many people mistakenly assume that undocumented immigrants in Iowa pay no taxes by virtue of their unauthorized status. Little research currently exists in Iowa examining the tax payments of undocumented immigrants. In February 2007, the Iowa Legislative Services Agency addressed this subject in an Issue Review that presented ratios of state taxes paid to state benefits accessed for undocumented immigrants. However, our study goes beyond this analysis by adopting a newmethodology and presenting more extensive tax data.