Study: Undocumented immigrants contribute $49.1M in local, state taxes
STOCKTON — Undocumented immigrants living in San Joaquin County contribute just over $49.1 million dollars in local and state taxes annually, according to a recent study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
The Washington, D.C.-based research organization reported that San Joaquin County’s estimated 47,000 undocumented immigrants paid $26.2 million in property and local sales taxes to the county, and nearly $22.9 million in personal income, sales and excise taxes went to the state. The amount of revenue contributed to the county by people living in the country illegally, ITEP added, would increase by more than $6.7 million each year if the individuals would gain legal status.
The information is not entirely new, but this is the first time the data has been broken down by California counties.
Josue Chavarin, program associate for The California Endowment, said he’s known all along that undocumented individuals pay taxes. The only questions, he said, are how much have they contributed and how is it divided.
“Undocumented Californians, like everyone else, pay taxes and should be eligible for state and local services,” he said. “This data, developed by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and The California Endowment, for the first time allows California counties to more fully recognize the tax contributions of undocumented residents to their budgets. Our hope is that this leads to a more productive discussion of undocumented populations and their role in communities.”
The study comes at a time when the contributions and costs of illegal immigration are hotly debated. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
Undocumented Californians, like 27-year-old Omar, contribute about $3 billion in taxes to the state each year, according to ITEP.
Omar, who asked not to be identified by his full name because he is in the country illegally, was brought to the U.S. by his mother at the age of 16. He was told the family’s life would be better in the U.S. and they would be able to reunite with his father, whom the family hadn’t seen in approximately 14 years.
The Stocktonian has been working and paying taxes for about 11 years, he said. First, he used an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service regardless of immigration status, and in the past three years through a Social Security number he obtained through the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“I get upset when people say (undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes),” he said. “That’s not true. We really do pay taxes.”
Undocumented immigrants are “pretend citizens” in the sense that they pay taxes but don’t get anything in return, he said.
Chavarin said The California Endowment believes that based on the fact that undocumented people pay into the system, they should have access to services at a county, state and federal level.
Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors strict immigration policies, sees the issue of whether they have access to services differently but doesn’t contest the fact that undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes each year. About half of the people living in the country illegally are paid “on the books” so they contribute in that way, and just like everyone else, he said, they also purchase goods and rent or own homes.
But, Camarota said, the study doesn’t answer a big question: “What’s the balance” between what they contribute and the services they use?
Most undocumented immigrants are a drain on the system because they have a low level of education and hold low-paying jobs, he said. And as a result, require more social services and pay little in taxes, Camarota added.
Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to use services like Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, nor can they apply for housing assistance. According to the Pew Research Center, there were 4.5 million U.S.-born children younger than 18 living with undocumented parents. And U.S.-born children, regardless of their parents’ status, are citizens who qualify for public services.
“Tax payments matter, but they are just one part of the equation,” Camarota said. “Costs matter just as much if you want to know the balance.”
In a news release, ITEP states that the report “provides critical context at a time when the president is pushing immigration policies that partly rely on the flawed assumption that immigrants are a drain on the nation’s economy.”
Nationwide, undocumented immigrants contribute an estimated $11.74 billion to state and local coffers each year through a combination of sales, personal income and property taxes, according to ITEP.
“Good policy is informed policy,” said Meg Wiehe, ITEP director of programs. “Just as the horrendous impact of breaking up families under a mass deportation policy should not be ignored, nor should policymakers overlook the significant contributions undocumented immigrants make to our state and local revenues and the economy.”