Undocumented Immigrants Contribute $11.84 Billion to Economy

*From the report: ” … allowing (the undocumented) to work in the United States legally would increase their state and local tax contributions by an estimated $2.2 billion a year.” Check out the story to see the contributions in your state. VL

By Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

In the public debates over federal immigration reform, sufficient and accurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants is often lacking. The reality is the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States pay billions of dollars in local, state and federal taxes, and their tax contributions would increase under immigration policy reform.1 To date, however, Congress has not passed comprehensive immigration reform legislation which would grant a pathway to lawful permanent residence for all undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States.

Undocumented immigrants contribute significantly to state and local taxes, collectively paying an estimated $11.84 billion in 2012. Contributions range from less than $3.2 million in Montana with an estimated undocumented population of 6,000 to more than $3.2 billion in California, home to more than 3.1 million undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants’ nationwide aver-age effective state and local tax rate (the share of income they pay in state and local taxes) in 2012 is an estimated 8 percent. To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay an average nationwide effective tax rate of just 5.4 percent.4

Click HERE to read the full report.