Undocumented Immigrants Pay More In Taxes Than The Top 1 Percent

Undocumented immigrants are paying much more than you would think in taxes—that includes sales tax, property tax, and, to the confusion of some, income tax.

President Donald Trump has often claimed that undocumented immigrants only “steal jobs” away from Americans and contribute nothing in taxes.

However, as many of his talking points have proven to be false, these claims made by the POTUS have once again turned out to be baseless and untrue.

While, Trump believes only 5-10% of these immigrants pay taxes, in reality, around 50-75% of them are taxpayers. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a report that highlights some interesting facts the president might want to have a look at.

Undocumented immigrants pay almost $12 billion in taxes annually. That amount would only increase if there were to be immigration reform.

“Undocumented immigrants contribute significantly to state and local taxes, collectively paying in estimated $11.54 billion a year,” the report of the study states. “Contributions range from almost $2.2 million in Montana with an estimated undocumented population of 4,000 to more than $3.1 billion in California, home to more than 3 million undocumented immigrants.”


How exactly are they paying taxes if they are undocumented workers? Easy: sales tax (when you buy goods or services like food, gas, or clothing), property tax (when you buy a house or property), and income taxes (when they are paid for services that they provide).

Even more importantly, the study found that if we were to have serious immigration reform, the numbers would only increase, “Granting legal status to all undocumented immigrants in the United States as part of a comprehensive immigration reform and allowing them to work legally would increase their state and local tax contributions by an estimated $2.1 billion a year. Their nationwide effective state and local tax rate would increase to 8.6 percent.”

It is rather ironic that concerns over the taxes of undocumented immigrants come from Donald Trump, the first sitting president in 40 years to have not released his tax returns.

Check out the video above to learn more about undocumented immigrants and their taxes.

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