OPB: Undocumented Immigrants In Oregon Paid About $94 Million In Taxes

(Original Post)

OPB | July 12, 2013 3:38 p.m. | Portland, Oregon

A new national report indicates that undocumented immigrants in Oregon paid about $94 million in state and local taxes in 2010.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy findings are based on figures from the 2010 U.S. Census and the Pew Research Hispanic Center.

They estimate Oregon has about 160,000 undocumented immigrants. The average annual income for those families is around $33,000.

Meg Wiehe is one of the authors of the report. She says that the average tax rate among undocumented immigrants could be higher.

“The effective tax rate is quite low currently, four point one percent because of that assumption of only fifty percent paying income taxes. But when we assume that everyone is paying income taxes, the effective tax rate ends up being six point one percent,” Wiehe says.

Wiehe says the reason the current tax rate is low among undocumented immigrants is that the study assumes only half of them are paying taxes.

Nationally, undocumented families on average have a tax rate of 6.4 percent.