Illegal immigrants pump billions into tax economy

By James Mayer, The Oregonian

PORTLAND (AP) - Illegal immigrants pump as much as $7 billion in taxes into the Social Security trust fund each year, money that helps pay retirement and disability benefits of U.S. workers. The chances are slim that those undocumented workers will ever see a penny in retirement or other benefits.

The Oregon Center for Public Policy, a group that advocates for low-income people, estimates that illegal immigrants in Oregon pay $56 million to $79 million a year in Social Security taxes.

The question of whether illegal immigrants contribute more in total taxes than they consume in public services has no clear answer, but their contribution may be one reason the tax system turns a largely blind eye to immigration.

Consider: Employers can easily check whether a job applicant has a valid Social Security number, but it is not required.

An illegal immigrant who becomes legal can get credit for wages earned under a phony or stolen Social Security number.

The Social Security Administration tracks wage reports where workers' names and Social Security numbers don't match, but workers are rarely prosecuted for using Social Security numbers that don't belong to them. This enormous and potentially ripe target - containing 255 million records - is off limits to immigration officials.

The Internal Revenue Service has the same mismatched information, but federal law protects the privacy of taxpayers - no matter how they earned their money.

“We don't care what you do, as long as you put it on a tax return,â€