Forbes: Immigrants Are Good for Us
media mentionA terrific report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) says that immigrants who entered the country illegally paid about $12 billion in state and local taxes in 2012. The revenue per state, of course, varies. ITEP found that these immigrants paid about $3 million in Montana (where few live), but over $3.2 billion in California, where an estimated 3.1 million are living. The point is that these immigrants are contributing to the public fisc. They are working.
More significantly, ITEP found that if the estimated 11.4 million immigrants who entered the country illegally were granted legal status, the taxes they would pay would increase by about $2.2 billion. Yes, that requires some kind of amnesty or forgiveness — but their crime was wanting to be us. It’s not as if they are former concentration camp guards or henchmen for Pol Pot. More practically, these 11.4 million immigrants are not leaving, and there is no mechanism for getting them out. They are here cutting our grass, cleaning our houses, and working on our farms. They are also contributing to financing our government. And that is a good thing.