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April 18, 2011

Study: Md. immigrants pay $275M in taxes

Illegal immigrants in Maryland will pay $275 million in state and local taxes this year, according to a study released Monday by a Washington group that advocates for immigrants. The report ranks Maryland as the 11th-highest state in the nation in collecting tax receipts from unauthorized immigrants.

Maryland comes in after California, Florida and New York but ahead of Nevada and New Mexico. The state will collect $76 million in state income taxes, $22 million in property taxes and $177 million in sales taxes in the 2010 tax year, according to the Immigration Policy Center study.

The report’s authors acknowledge that “it is difficult to know precisely how much these families pay in taxes, because the spending and income behavior of these families is not as well documented as is the case for U.S. citizens.” The study’s release was timed to coincide with Monday’s deadline to file state and federal income taxes.

“Tax Day is an appropriate time to underscore the often-overlooked fact that unauthorized immigrants pay taxes,” according to an Immigration Policy Center release sent Monday. “Add this all up and it amounts to billions in revenue to state and local governments.”

In all, the group estimates that households headed by illegal immigrants will pay $11.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2010.

The Immigration Policy Center supported a proposal in Congress known as the DREAM Act that would have created a path to citizenship for some immigrants if they spent two years in the military or in college. The proposal failed. The group's estimates are based on a model developed by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, whose board includes four academics as well as the co-editor of the liberal American Prospect and a union official.

Proposals to overhaul the nation's Immigration policy have largely fallen off the radar in Washington in recent weeks as Congress and the White House focus on the budget and deficits. In Maryland, the General Assembly approved a bill this year that allows undocumented students who have attended three years of Maryland high school to qualify for discounted tuition at state universities and colleges.

Posted by John Fritze at 3:31 PM | | Comments (72)
Categories: Washington


I would like to only pay sales tax as well please. How do I sign up for that?

Another deceptive article from the Sun about illegals. First, the math works out to about $572.00 per illegal, most in sales taxes. ( est. 480,000 illegals in MD) Previous studies show that illegal families consume $10,000 more in tax funds per year than they contribute. Consider the costs to educate, incarcerate and medicate the illegals.
Is it asking too much for just a little perspective from the Sun?

The question then becomes - How much did educating them, providing them social services, policing and jailing them cost the government? I'd bet we're upside down in that trade off big time.

How much in income taxes? Any at all means they used a stolen social security number!
Do you have a breakdown of the taxes paid by tax category?

Jack, I know how you can sign up for come to the United States, work for low wages at long hours with no legal protection and have a lot of people call you "illegal," and write what they consider snide and clever responses to hard facts. It must hurt Jack to realize that immigrants, documented and undocumented, were a central support to our economic successes in the 1990s and continue to play a vital role in our economy. I also understand how it must satisfy some selfish gene to try to deny their children a college education, but it is contrary to what is best for America and I wish you would think about your country, rather than cheating on taxes, for once.

Anyone here illegally that pays income tax is also committing ID theft or using false SS#'s. The small amount they may pay in taxes does not cover the tremendous burden they create at taxpayer expense. Deport them all and we'll call it even.

And what is the value of the services they consume?

Stephen, your ignorance is showing. There are thousands of Maryland residents without papers who are legally paying federal and state income taxes.I know many in this situation, evidently you spoke about things you don't know about. You might want to research before talking.

The numbers don't count the benefits generated by undocumented workers in making what they produce more affordable to the same screamers who want to kick them out.

So that is $11,229,391,410 in total taxes paid by 11.2 million illegal immigrants. And those are the figures from the pro-criminal organization. That is just over $1000 per alien, Not a really eye popping figure.

Elias, have you reported this criminal activity?

I just wonder how much they wont pay bet its way more then 275mill.............

Elias - why don't you explain how an illegal pays income taxes without a SS number?

Ok, how much murderers pay in taxes? Is that also relevant? What about drug dealers? So what if they pay taxes, they're still breaking the law!

I'm a legal immigrant. I did the paperwork, I paid the fees. I even learned the language! Letting it slide that these people are criminals I simply find offensive. And what's with a center that "advocate for immigrants" supporting illegal immigration? Shouldnt they work for legals first? And oppose it so they don't give us a bad name!

Elias Vlanton do you think its ok to be in this country ILLEGALLY? Find and deport.

Once again another BS article. The truth is they are here illegally, they are breaking "OUR" laws by being here. For some reason Our government is defending them, and giving them more freedom than the American Citizen...Like I said just more BS.

Don, the greatest criminals are the thousands of employers who have violated federal law since 1986 and taken advantage of undocumented workers, including farmers on the Eastern Shore and throughout the US, construction companies, food processors such as Tyson Foods and Purdue, and thousands of restaurants, dry cleaners, and cleaning services. Let me know when they are all in jail and I will happily report the workers themselves.

Until then, all your arguments are pure hypocrisy.

You can't complain about work conditions or anything, if you come here illegally. In my opinion, if you are here illegally, and you find yourself in a bad salutation, it's your fault. And these taxes being paid need broken down. I would like to know how much their education, free health care, uninsured car accidents, unpaid bills covered by tax payers, legal fees, ECT. Cost. There's got to be a higher cost paid out by Americans, than illegal’s pay into the economy. Americans are stupid though, if we weren’t, we would realize we are giving our country away, piece by piece we are giving up what was once a prosperous society.

Undocumented immigration is a matter of perspective. As a former resident of Massachusetts, I would suspect that the Wampanoags regarded my ancestors as undocumented immigrants. Isn't it curious that tax policies benefit capital that crosses borders in search of cheaper labor, but when labor crosses borders to seek better wages, it is deemed illegal? By the way, dividing the tax dollars paid by the number of undocumented workers is as ludicrous as applying the same formula to American families. Regardless of their immigration status, children do not pay taxes. As an IRS employee, I would urge those who denounce undocumented workers for paying only sales taxes to look at the actual data. Many undocumented workers pay taxes and file tax returns with the hope that they may someday qualify for amnesty. Moreover, they pay Social Security benefits which they won't receive because of their immigration status. Consequently, when I, as an Irish American, hear people screaming about undocumented Irish (of which there have been many since the 1970s) as loudly as I hear them screaming about undocumented Latinos, then I will believe that racism is not behind the complaints.

Tatelli: those brown faces did not come from Europe they are direct descendants of those native Americans who could borrow your words and say of YOUR ancestors: "The truth is they are here illegally, they are breaking "OUR" laws by being here.

How soon you forget

One guesstimated figure for pay-ins, but I bet your jaws will drop with actual pay-outs for those illegals. What a deal for illegals!

Im moving to Mexico: A serious question deserves a serious answer. I don't really care it the US shuts off future immigration altogether. We can build 3 walls with Mexico for all I care.

What I do strongly believe is that the US has encouraged immigration to the US to promote economic prosperity. Can anyone be serious that the government and business elites have wanted to enforce immigration laws since 1986? Of course not, it has been all smoke and mirrors....Americans shout about immigrants and then to go the car wash and get a auto wax by someone with no papers.

The majority of undocumented immigrants are hard-working people who mostly are here to improve their lives and those of their families.

My solution: A path to citizenship to people who have been here a number of years, aid to their children to benefit from the society they are a part of, and then if you want to close to borders, I have no problem.

What an oxymoron,who sits around,attempting to calculate these rediculous kinds of numbers,which mean absolutely NOTHING. Illegals dont pay anything they only COST all of us money

This country is an immigrant country and I have not heard the argument that the immigrants are taking our jobs like when I was in elementry (1970's). The fax is that none of you will do the jobs they do , for the pay that they recieve,aswell as they do the job or with the intensity that they put in to it. Americans have become lazy and kicking illegal imigrants out will only put companys out of buisness. Lets not forget the taxs these companys pay on the money they make with these illegal imigrants.

WAIT, how are undocumented/illegal immigrants getting social security numbers to file their taxes and even moreso those employers hiring are committing tax fraud, this article does not make any sense whatsoever. How is this money being collected and why would an illegal immigrant pay taxes and risk being detained for using a false SS#. The rabbit whole is much deeper than this folks

The $275 million number probably has some validity but so do the questions raised above about how far that actually goes to pay for the services those people use. The thing is, immigrants have relatively low wages so they don't pay much in taxes like “real” Americans who don't earn much. Illegal immigrants use fake SSNs to work and pay into the system. They pay federal taxes – withholding, social security, etc. – and get little in the way of services from the federal government, but they don't pay State and local taxes to the same extent. Thus, there is a legit gripe to be had about use of schools and whatnot.

Still, my wife and I don't have kids and we paid 2.83% of our income to Baltimore County for 2010. But I guess in this modern era we have been termed the "Haves" because we're government employees. But before you get all Scott Walker on me, I'll tell you right now that I just wrote $2,800 in checks to various governments today for taxes. My wife and I are not top earners and we’ve taken furloughs, gotten no COLA or merit pay in years and just took a pension contribution hit. And let’s not forget the mountain of student loan debt that we choke on every month: nearly $700.

Maybe the illegal immigrants are not entirely chipping in their share, or maybe they are. But if you’re angry about injustice, it seems to me like you’re barking up the wrong tree with this issue. I think robber barons have bought up the Republican party and a lot of Dems too. Their lobby has successfully pushed for the consolidation of wealth in this country. Us at the bottom, legal and illegal, are getting screwed as these demons lurk through our corridors of influence.

dang man after reading all these comments i keep asking myselft how come america was a first world country one day.... i've never seen so many stupid comments in my life... i think before you guys come here to comment about something most of you should take a law class first.. a country that the base was built by immigrants... and back then the status didnt really matter, neather how did they got here or from where right?? thats because they were helping america and america needed them... and then 50 years later why not blame the economy problem on them.. they are breaking the law using our benefits right?? yeh right for those of you whos saying that the illegal are taking your jobs they are not. the popular jobs still with americans because illegal immigrants they don't speak english ..and its increable how come you all don't see that the LEGAL ONES are taking ur jobs... because they have papers, speak, english and are able to work here LEGALLY and use much more of the system benefits...Amazing how a piece of paper makes such a big difference.. piece of paper that this individue didnt have little while ago just after Queen Elizabeth signed his paper work and he became legal resident of USA...obs for those of you saying that they are stealing SSN there are a document issued BY USA GOVERNMET CALL TAX ID THAT ILLEGAL CAN ISSUE THEN ONLINE AND CAN WORK AND APPLY FOR JOBS.... one more thing these 12 or 20 million that are here illegal will be LLEGAL one day even there is no a easy path for it but they will eventually and we going have more and more illegals coming... by 2045 the president will be mexican decendent for sure SO just like JANET NAPOLITANO SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY SAID GET OVER IT

As someone who lived in Texas for ten years, including when Bush was governor, I andm for that matter, were aware that if you sealed the border, the economy in south Texas would have gone bust just as it would have in southern California. The effective way to stop undocumented workers is to heavily penalize businesses who employee them, but that won't hapen in my lifetime. The agriculteral, construction, and landscaping businesses in many border states would go belly up if they could not hire undocumented workers, so let's not kid ourselves. I haven't read one negative comment criticizing those businesses who hire undocumented workers to increase their profits and thoses businesses who depend on them to survive. As we say in Texas, they didn't cross the border, the border crossed them.

How much did they under cut citizens to get those jobs ? Why are we spending money to support their children when it should be spent sending them back since we seem to know who they are and where they are at. Why do their rights surpass those who have a right to be here. We and are forefathers fought and died for these freedoms and they should to the same in THEIR OWN COUNTRY !

It's okay to be a criminal as long as you pay taxes?

I wonder how much the state has to pay to legal residents whose jobs were stolen by the illegal aliens? It is a lot more than the illegals pay in sales tax.

Daniel..Great Post!!
..but you know only too well you are wasting your breath.
Stupid comments indeed. They just can't get passed the"illegal" thing,conveniently forgetting this country bloodthirsty past...noworries though at least the General Assembly has shown good sense with this issue...the complaining and the whimpering will soon die down and slowly disappear..

A long as we have fiscal policies that hand out taxpayer dole to able-bodied working men in the hood through disability, social security, and other tax-payer funded social service programs, we will discover that people who are not privy to the taxpayer dole will work for lower wages in order to generate some sort of income...even if they have to lie.

This will all fall's S&P comments were only the first shots across the bow which will be ignore...when it does fall apart, well, I for one am buying more guns and ammo instead of mutual funds and ETFs these days.

Because I keep thinking of what happened to post-Katrina New Orleans when the safety net evaporated.

How Much are They Taking out of Our Society. Get Legal speak Our language or get the Hell Out!! NOW

I don't buy that BS for a minute. I think that the numbers are made up since it was a pro illegal group that did the study. How many Illegals do you think it would take to pay that much in taxes.That number of illegals would be astronomical. The other side of that is how many Legal Citizens are paying the price of all tha ILLEGALS taking jobs away from them.

I earned about $89k last year and I paid about $40,000 in federal & state income taxes, sales taxes, etc. By definition, we have no way of knowing how much income an illegal immigrant earns, but we know that the cumulative total in taxes (income taxes, sales taxes) is about $600 per illegal immigrant (using the $275m estimate and the estimated 480k illegal immigrants in MD). So the story begs two questions: (1) how utterly stupid does the group who put this information out think ordinary citizens are; and (2) how much money does it cost to allow illegal immigrants to stay here. As others have rightly stated in comments before mine, what we need is a non-biased economic analysis weighing the benefits (the $275m) with the costs (drain on the system - i.e., the losses to the state for allowing illegals to reside here). Think that will ever happen? L.O.L.

It is really a shame that one does not have to pass an intelligence test or follow guidelines of civil discourse in order to post on the internet.

Trolling is not a worthwhile activity.

Ray, when country was developing we needed people to grow. Back then there weren't many public services or social programs that tax payers paid. Today's imigrants cost more than those of the past and the work they do doesn't cover their cost. Low paying jobs of yesterday paid the social cost of yesterday. Low paying jobs of today, do not pay the bills. If Americans are lazy, it's due to cheap labor and technology and education. If we Americans didn't have people to mow the lawns and clean our homes, we would probably be healthier as well because we would HAVE to do the work. Anyway, I'm looking out my window at half dozen kids to one illegal couple, and they arnt making nearly enouPh to send those kids to school or pay their healthcare. One broken leg and the taxes they paid for the next 5 years is gone from all our pockets

It's pretty funny that even after PB won the thread with this line:


the rest of you schlubs are still talking.

Putting aside the issue of "legal" vs "illegal" for the moment, I believe it is the right of every nation to choose who will or will not be allowed to enter. I think everyone agrees that we sometimes need immigrants. The questions to be asked are : which immmigrants; what kind of skills do they bring; and how will they contribute to our country. They should NOT have a criminal background. At minimum, immigrants to the US should have at least a basic facility with the english language and should demonstrate a strong desire to become Americans... not remain Mexicans,or Salvadorans, or Nigerians and only pay lip service to the US. Immigrants should be prepared to stay here, support this coountry and adopt the US as their own. What we have now are hordes of uneducated masses who can't make it in their own countries coming north to live off the citizens of this land. WE should chose who gets in... not some "coyote" who will bring wetbacks across the river for a few bucks.

What a BOGUS study. How many of them used fradulant SSNs?

Hi! In response to all of you asking how an illegal pays without having a stolen SS card, I am an "Undocumented" resident of Maryland and have a perfectly valid Social Security Card and number in my own name. Since when did you idiots become experts in immigration law? Don't act like you know everyone's situation please.

D.E.P.O.R.T. NOW!!!

Folks, there is absolutely no way there are the number of undocumented immigrants in Maryland that several posters have suggested. The 2009 American community survery showed there to be a total of less than 700,000 immigrants in the state - of whom more than 40% - nearly three hundred thousand - are naturalized U.S. citizens; several hundred thousand more are legal permanent residents (non-citizens, yes, but legally present, having waited years to enter the U.S with green cards., and they must wait years more before they are eligible to apply for citizenship.) More than ten thousand others are legally present refugees and persons who have been granted political asylum in the U.S. And nearly 50,000 have a legal non-immigrant status known as Temporary Protected Status (given to Haitians who were here when the earthquake struck, Salvadorans who were here when Hurricane Mitch hit, Liberians who were here when it was unsafe to return during the civil war there, etc.) That doesn't count the legally present folks here on non-immigrant visas such as student visas or diplomatic visas, or temporary work visas while working at the World Bank or any one of a number of international or foreign companies in the state. So anyone who equates
"non-citizen" with "illegal" simply doesn't know the first thing about the U.S. immigration system.

And about that term "illegal" - Overstaying a visa or entering the U.S. without inspection is a civil infraction, not a criminal offense under the laws of the United States. I wonder how many of you who like to use the term "illegal" for these immigrants would also fit that description if it were applied to everyone who had committed any civil infraction - let's say speeding, for instance? Or claiming an invalid tax deduction, perhaps?

Isay do what I do, find out whos hiring them and report them all, once they learn they cant hire them anymore theyll have to hire us citizens . I personally every weekend ride to home depot and other spots they hang at and act like I need them to build a deck for me then drive them straight to the ins office holding my horn in hoping after that scare they will flee our state and stop the ssn identity theft and higher car ins rates from accidents from illegals with no insurance where the legal one has to pay a high deductable. Sad thing is in 15 years theyll be able to elect a hector sanchez to the presidency of the usa and we will be the minority.

The Sun is an accessory to treason.

The Great Reckoning is coming you callow, clueless DEMOCRATS.

It would be wise to plan your own illegal entry into another country.

there was a bubble in the nineties ...In MD the people that really made out were in the public sector.

Their income has grown exponentially with hardly any checks and balances...they help insure that fact by enabling a whole new dependent class of people who are genuinely unwelcome here

To GRocketman:

That you continued to read the thread, must prove that you too are one of "the schlubs", no?

And while I am not and never was for the outsourcing of the manufacturing base of this country overseas, your (and PBs) comparison of that to the illegal immigration problem is ridiculous. It is not just about the "labor". We are talking about the stress of absorbing a poorly educated, low skill population the size of a small European nation within our own borders.

Why such sympathy with the law-breakers (not just "the rich" you know!). I am truly curious why people tolerate this ridiculous "undocumented worker" nonsense.

This article does not mention the amount of fraudulent tax refunds federal and state that illegals/seasonal workers are filing. i.e. its amazing the amount of dependents being claimed and these dependents dont even live in this country. I think all the money being paid in is just going right back out to pay fraudulent tax refunds. You'd think in budget cutting times they'd be able to at least stop this.

Providing aid and comfort to the enemy is treason.
The Sun does little else in its zeal to promote the end of America.

I'm so tired of the constant vomiting on these blogs by all the haters. I wish I could take all you hate mongers and send you all off to the "Lost" Island where you would never be seen or heard from again. Maybe you'll meet John Locke? Do me a favor, ask him how he's doing!

Being in the USA illegally and hiring undocumented workers is breaking the law. No one should advocate breaking the way. Let's get that straight. So, do what corporate Fat-cats do; get the law changed to support your interest. Will the NAACP work towards that or do we need a "lunch counter" cause?

So....according to this totally unbiased (HAH!) Sunpapers long as a criminal pays money to the government, the government will forgive his or her crime?

This misguided and treasonable policy goes against everything the United States of America stands for.

another one-sided article by the paper. The crimminals or as the King like s to call them " New americans" take more then they give. they provide us with bed bugs, dirty living conditions and promote gangs/ drug trade. go down to fells point and see how they have destroyed a once proud community.

"released Monday by a Washington group that advocates for immigrants"



Illegals don't need a Social Security number to pay taxes The IRS issues them a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) instead.

Any article like this that does not include the cost of illegals to the taxpayer is only half of the story. !.7 to 2 Billion?

Question for "Mr Legal".- how does it feel to have all these illegals jump ahead of you in line? I salute you for your integrity and patience in the application experience. How long did it take 5, 10 years? I believe the US is only granting professionals legal residence.


Yes. Illegal is illegal. It is the law. Not an opinion and not an option.

Yes. We should go after the employers first.

Illegal Immigration Costs Baltimore County Residents $194,215,920.00 Per Year

TOWSON: Help Save Maryland (HSM) calculates that the cost of illegal immigration to Baltimore County taxpayers will be over $194,215,920.00 next year. This amount is the cost of public education, emergency healthcare and incarceration for illegal aliens. HSM bases its calculations on recent information provided by the Maryland Department of Planning and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

"Our citizens should be outraged," said Judy Bach, the HSM coordinator for Baltimore County. "Given the difficult economic situation many Baltimore County taxpayers find themselves in, what household can afford to pay $790.00 each year to support people who are living here illegally?"

HSM's calculations do not include the cost of other social services provided by the County, like day laborer centers and non-emergency health clinics. Nor do they include the value of state and county grants and contracts paid to organizations that serve a predominantly illegal clientele, such as CASA de Maryland, Identity Inc., Catholic Charities, Centro Familia and the Latino Economic Development Corporation.

"And we didn't even begin to try to estimate the economic losses, and pain and suffering that will be inflicted upon Baltimore County residents next year due to the rising crime, gang violence, housing code violations and traffic accidents caused by illegal aliens," said Brad Botwin, Director of Help Save Maryland. "If we had, the cost would be much, much higher."

Help Save Maryland is a grass-roots, multi-ethnic, non-partisan citizens' organization opposed to the use of tax dollars on programs and services for illegal aliens in Maryland. It has members in 23 counties & Baltimore City.

Bottom line : they are criminals , period..........

p.s. where did you find some of these words in your verification , a mexican dictionary ?

For those of you who are asking how much we spend on them, the most recent numbers are $331,000,000. So yes, they cost more than they pay in, as do most lower income people, legal or not.
I have seen people quoting numbers of illegals between 480,000 and 11.2 million. Best estimates are between 2-4 percent of the population, which would be 115000-230000. This may change some people's math.

Two questions: 1.) How do you pay income tax as an illegal immigrant without a social security number? 2.) How can you pay property tax as an illegal immigrant, because you need to own property to pay the tax, and you have to be a legal resident to own property? Can anyone provide a clear "true" explanation?

The key word in all of this is "illegal".

No issue with legal immigrants. I do sympathize with illegal immigrants various reasons for being here but when you enter a country and do not abide by its requirements- I do take issue with that. If I do something illegal- I suffer a consequence. I don't get a benefit for it. Not sure how Elias can explain that away.

To "A Fellow Student" please tell everyone here how you obtained your SSN card since according to the Social Security website titled Social Security Numbers and Immigrant Visas your would have had to obtain a card "If you requested an SSN card as part of your visa application, U.S. Department of State (DoS), Form DS 230, Part II, Questions 33a and 33b, and you are age 18 or older when you arrive in the United States, the U.S. DoS and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will share with us the information needed to issue you an SSN card."

Or, if "If You Did Not Request an SSN When You Applied for Your Visa or You are Under Age 18

You must come to a Social Security office to apply for an SSN if you did not request an SSN card as part of your visa application or you are under age 18 when you arrive in the United States. When you have a permanent address, please call us to find out where to apply for an SSN card.

When you visit a Social Security office to apply for a Social Security card, take the following papers with you:

Your passport with your Machine-Readable Immigrant Visa (MRIV) or Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551) if you have it; and,

your birth certificate and a birth certificate for each member of your family applying for a Social Security number.

So, if you are an "Undocumented" resident of Maryland how did you come to posess a "perfectly valid Social Security Card" in your own name.

Oh, and if you posess an perfectly valid Social Security Card and number in your own name it would then stand to reason that you could collect SSN benifts. However according to an article in the NY Daily News dated July 29 2009 "Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Social Security Retirement Benefits. Those benefits are available only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents."


I'd be curious to know how much tax revenue Maryland is out providing benefits to those who receive them illegally? For example, in Kentucky, illegals pay approx. $18 million a year in these taxes (mostly via individual tax i.d. numbers). HOWEVER, Kentucky forks over $308 million a year in benefits to them.

So many of you feel satisfied in directing your resentment at the undocumented, but are silent about the companies that hire and exploit them by paying them less in benefits and pay than U.S. workers. Until those of you who despise us allegedly bleeding heart liberals get serious about holding businesses accountable by imposing heavy fines for hiring undocumented workers, you're just blowing hot air and aren't serious about the issue. McDonald's, Home Depot, construction, they all profit from unskilled labor. To those who see no correlation between unskilled immigrants and capital seeking cheap labor, look at where your clothes and other items are made or do you really believe that we Americans are so advanced that we no longer have need of the manufacturing, garment industry, and other jobs that were exported, jobs that were first jobs for many in my generation to gain entrance uinto the workplace. It's so much easier to blame the brown men and women seeking work than the contruction firms and other companies that hire them. When you support heavily fining businesses that profit from cheap labor, then you will be taken seriously. As it stands now, you want to penalize the worker, but not the firm that hires him or her for profit. Spare me the rhetoric about they are no longer needed; the whole premise underlying Bush's proposal for a guest worker program was that they are needed in industries like agriculture in which growers do not want to pay what they would have to pay for American workers. Apparently only individuals, rather than corporations, are held responsible for violating the law.

This study is a fraud. First off they admit they guess on sales tax and property tax. Secondly, this study had to be done before everyone filed. The only way an illegal can file taxes legally is with an ITIN. However the IRS gives these out to legal and illegal immigrants. The IRS admits it can't tell whether the ITIN is for a legal or illegal immigrant. By law they "can't ask". However, since taxes are kept on a computer, the state can run a computer program to know exactly how much they actually collected from ALL immigrants whether legal or illegal. The program could print exactly how much state tax was withheld from paychecks. The program could take that figure and subtract any state refunds. That would give the "exact" total of how much immigrants, both legal and illegal, actually paid to the state. This study is like all other they guess. It's publicized that many immigrants send money to their home country. There is no way to know how much of their salary is spent in the U.S. for sales tax. Many illegals live with more than 1 family in a house or apartment. There is no way to know how much they pay in property tax. this study is a sham. I'm surprised a supposedly reputable newspaper would print it without noting the exceptions I noted above. There may be mote exceptions I'm not aware of. I can do a study but mine wouldn't be aoming form an imiigrant advocate group yet my study would be as god a guess as theirs. It would be more acuurate if I could write the computer program to get some accurate data. However the state wouldn't allow it and I assume neither would it allow this advocate group access to tax data.

Hey Cal if you want tp know how illegals pay taxes go to the IRS.GOV site they provide them an IRS Tax Identification number. The IRS and the state do not care about their legal status< they just want their taxes i mean money

Illegal aliens that have NOT stolen an ID (about 3 million) can apply for citizenship after they return to their home countries. Illegal alien criminals that have stolen an ID (about 8 million) must leave the country and they will not be allowed to apply for citizenship. They have already proven to be undesirable.


The truth is that Latinos are the fastest growing minority 50 mill + so Goodluck getting rid of us ..just accept the future is brown and black , everyone here is clearly brainwashed by the govt there is no such thing as illegal alien thats a term from a failed system ..what if Ets come and want to contact us where gonna deport them lol you guys are blind to the reality..Let Jesus come as where living now and hell probably be deported too for not having "papers" ...all of you can be consider nazi supporters.

You do not need a SSN to pay taxes! You can use an alien registration number or any made up number. You just can't file at the end of the year to get a refund. MOST illegal immigrants get taxes taken out of their checks but will never be eligible for the Medicare or SS benefits when they are elderly.

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