Governing: This Week in Public Finance
media mentionA new study has found that granting undocumented immigrants’ legal status in the United States could increase state and local tax collections by a total of more than $2 billion a year. The April 16 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy noted that the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the country already pay a substantial contribution in taxes — a collective $11.84 billion in 2012. That could increase to $14 billion annually if Congress passed comprehensive immigration reform, the report said. On a smaller scale, under full implementation of President Barack Obama’s 2012 and 2014 executive orders making temporary immigration reprieve available to up to 5.2 million undocumented immigrants, tax contributions would increase by $845 million.