President Joe Biden’s American Families and Jobs plans intend to “build back better” and create a more inclusive economy. To fully live up to this ideal, the final plan must include undocumented people and their families.
Immigration
Public debates over federal immigration reform, specifically around undocumented immigrants, often suffer from insufficient and inaccurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants, particularly at the state level. Nationally, undocumented immigrants pay more than $11 billion in state and local taxes.
ITEP blogs and reports examine the contributions of undocumented immigrants as taxpayers to dispel the myths and misunderstandings and provide updated and accurate information.
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blog July 7, 2021 Congress Should Follow States’ Lead on Inclusive Economic Recovery
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brief June 17, 2021 ITIN Filer Data Gap: How Changing Laws, Lack of Data Disaggregation Limit Inclusive Tax Policy
Like U.S. citizens, noncitizens who live, work, or invest in the United States must file local, state and federal taxes. But in order to file personal income taxes, they must first be issued a processing number called an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) by the IRS. These numbers are issued to both legal permanent residents and nonresidents who are not eligible for Social Security numbers. ITINs do not imply immigration status, nor can they be used for immigration enforcement purposes, but they can be used to create burdensome barriers that make it difficult for ITIN holders to file taxes and to impose additional eligibility restrictions on benefits that exclude ITIN filers. The time is now to focus on integrating all ITIN filers, regardless of immigration status, into our tax policies. But a lack of information on the ITIN population creates large gaps in our understanding of these filers and the role they play in the U.S. tax system.
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blog April 27, 2021 Inclusive Child Tax Credit Reform Would Restore Benefit to 1 Million Young ‘Dreamers’
As the Biden administration maps out the next steps in America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic—through what is now being called the American Families Plan—it should make sure a proposed expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) includes undocumented children who have largely been left out of federal relief packages this past year. Prior to 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, all children regardless of their immigration status received the credit as long as their parents met the income eligibility requirements. This change essentially excluded around 1 million children and their families.
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brief May 14, 2020 Analysis: How the HEROES Act Would Reach ITIN Filers
The HEROES Act, filed by the House Democrats this week, includes a new one-time payment of $1,200 per adult and child and extends the payment to ITIN filers and their families. The bill also includes a retroactive change to the CARES Act ensuring ITIN filers will also receive the initial payment under the CARES Act. ITEP estimates more than 4.3 million adults and 3.5 million children would benefit from this change.
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ITEP Work in Action May 14, 2020 Fiscal Policy Institute: Unemployment Insurance Taxes Paid for Undocumented Workers in NYS
In the midst of a pandemic, there has been a growing call for undocumented immigrants, who make up five percent of the New York State labor force, to be covered… -
blog May 4, 2018 In the Face of the Trump Administration’s Anti-Immigrant Agenda, We Must Rely on Evidence to Highlight the Contributions of and Dispel Myths About Dreamers
Immigrants face tremendous uncertainty and little hope under the Trump Administration. The administration’s actions—banning travel from residents of primarily Muslim countries, the deportation of Christian Iraqi asylum seekers, and the… -
report April 30, 2018 State & Local Tax Contributions of Young Undocumented Immigrants
This report specifically examines the state and local tax contributions of undocumented immigrants who are currently enrolled or immediately eligible for DACA and the fiscal implications of various policy changes. The report includes information on the national impact (Chart 1) and provides a state-by-state breakdown (Appendices 1 and 2).
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blog January 16, 2018 We Must Protect Dreamers
Last week, a federal court judge in California ruled that the Trump administration cannot end DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) while the case works its way through the courts. Although this is reassuring news for the roughly 685,000 young people currently enrolled or seeking renewals for their DACA status it does not extend protections to new applicants, and it does not lessen the need for congressional action to protect Dreamers.
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blog December 13, 2017 All I Want for Christmas is a Clean DREAM Act
As 2017 draws to close, Congress has yet to take legislative action to protect Dreamers. The young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, and are largely working or in school, were protected by President Obama’s 2012 executive action, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). But in September, President Trump announced that he would end DACA in March 2018. Instead of honoring the work authorizations and protection from deportation that currently shields more than 685,000 young people, President Trump punted their lives and livelihood to a woefully divided Congress which is expected to take up legislation to address the issue this month.
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December 13, 2017 Updated Tax Contributions of Young Undocumented Immigrants
In September 2017, US Citizenship and Immigration Services released updated enrollment data for the program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The updated data included estimates of the number of former DACA enrollees that were now legal permanent residents and those that failed to reapply or their reapplication was denied. The table below provides updated estimates of their tax contributions.
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blog May 23, 2017 Trump Budget Plan Would Eliminate Child Tax Credits for Working Families Due to Parents’ Immigration Status
As ITEP has detailed, undocumented immigrants are taxpayers, contributing close to $12 billion a year in state and local taxes while also paying federal payroll, income, and excise taxes. In spite of these facts, Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director, has spread erroneous information to validate the administration’s cruel proposal to strip a proven anti-poverty benefit from undocumented immigrants and their children.
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ITEP Work in Action May 5, 2017 Maryland’s Money Matters: ‘Dreamers’ Make Important Contributions to Maryland
It is unclear, as of now, whether the Trump administration will choose to end protections for young adults who came to the U.S. as children and have legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. If the administration elects to end the program, thousands of Marylanders could lose their jobs and ability to attend college, many business could lose valued workers, and Maryland could lose nearly $14 million annually in state and local tax revenue.
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ITEP Work in Action May 3, 2017 The Progressive Pulse: Young Undocumented Immigrants’ Tax Contributions Would Drop by Nearly Half Without the Protection of the DACA Program
Young immigrants eligible for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) annually contribute $2 billion in state and local taxes, according to new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The ITEP report finds that this number would drop by nearly half without DACA protection at a time when the Trump Administration has sent mixed signals on whether it intends to honor the DACA executive order in the long term.
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blog April 27, 2017 Undocumented Immigrants’ Tax Contributions in California: County-by-County Analysis
Guest Blogger; Josue Chavarin, Program Associate at the California Endowment California’s counties gain hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from undocumented residents— collectively over $1.53 billion according to… -
report April 25, 2017 State & Local Tax Contributions of Young Undocumented Immigrants (2017)
This report specifically examines the state and local tax contributions of undocumented immigrants who are currently enrolled or immediately eligible for DACA and the fiscal implications of various policy changes. The report includes information on the national impact (Table 1) and provides a state-by-state breakdown (Appendix 1).
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ITEP Work in Action April 25, 2017 Fiscal Policy Institute: Immigrant Youth Add $140 Million to New York Tax Revenues
The report, conducted by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and co-released in New York by the Fiscal Policy Institute, focuses on the executive order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The executive order first went into effect in 2012, and in New York State, of the estimated 820,000 undocumented immigrants, about 76,000 are eligible for DACA.
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ITEP Work in Action April 25, 2017 New Jersey Policy Perspectives: DACA-Eligible New Jerseyans Pay $66 Million a Year in Taxes
New Jersey’s young immigrants eligible for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) contribute $66 million in state and local taxes each year, the seventh highest level of all the states. And those annual contributions would increase by $27 million – the sixth most of all states – under comprehensive immigration reform.
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blog April 25, 2017 Young Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes Too
A few weeks ago, a young undocumented immigrant posted a photo on Facebook after filing her taxes that went viral. The young woman, Belen Sisa, is one of 1.3 million… -
report April 24, 2017 State and Local Tax Contributions of Undocumented Californians: County-by- County Data
Public debates in California over immigrants, specifically around undocumented immigrants, often suffer from insufficient and inaccurate information about the contributions of undocumented immigrants, particularly their tax contributions at the local and state level. The fact of the matter is undocumented immigrants living in the California pay millions of dollars each year in local taxes to the counties where they live (estimated to be more than $1.5 billion) and collectively an estimated $3 billion combined in state and local taxes. A little more than half of the total state and local taxes undocumented immigrants in California pay flow to local governments.
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news release April 24, 2017 New Report: DACA-Eligible Immigrants Annually Pay $2 billion in State and Local Taxes
Young undocumented immigrants’ tax contributions would drop by nearly half if DACA protections were rescinded A new Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report examined the state and local tax… -
ITEP Work in Action April 12, 2017 The Progressive Pulse: Undocumented immigrants pay their fair share of taxes, too
Tax Day is just around the corner, and this year is no different than any other for countless undocumented immigrants filling tax forms in North Carolina. Current rhetoric on immigration… -
ITEP Work in Action March 21, 2017 Hope Policy Institute: Everyone Pays Taxes, Including Undocumented Immigrants
According to a new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), it is estimated that undocumented immigrants in Mississippi pay almost $22,684,000 in state and local taxes. Nationally, undocumented immigrants pay over $11.74 billion in state and local taxes. The report, entitled “Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions,” highlights the contributions of undocumented immigrants as taxpayers to state and local governments.
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ITEP Work in Action March 9, 2017 Minnesota Budget Project: Undocumented Immigrants Pay $83 Million in State Taxes, Would Pay More with Immigration Reform
Undocumented immigrants play a vital role in Minnesota’s economy and currently pay an estimated $83 million in state and local taxes, according to a new report from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Under immigration reform that provides a path to legal status, ITEP estimates these contributions would substantially increase.
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blog March 2, 2017 Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes
A newly updated ITEP report released today provides data that helps dispute the erroneous idea espoused during President Trump’s address to Congress that undocumented immigrants aren’t paying their fair share.… -
report March 1, 2017 Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions
Public debates over federal immigration reform, specifically around undocumented immigrants, often suffer from insufficient and inaccurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants, particularly at the state level. The truth is that undocumented immigrants living in the United States paybillions of dollars each year in state and local taxes. Further, these tax contributions would increase significantly if all undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States were granted a pathway to citizenship as part of comprehensive immigration reform. Or put in the reverse, if undocumented immigrants are deported in high numbers, state and local revenues could take a substantial hit.