Illegal Immigration, Taxes, and Statistics
By Cameron Clark



An article about undocumented workers and their tax burden appeared in Friday's Tennessean: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /804110382

Although it's good to see some illegal immigrants pay their share of taxes (plus a little more), I still can't help but have a problem with this whole botheration perpetuated on our southern and northern borders. Please allow me to display my libertarian philosophies for those of you who think we have "been seduced by the dark side."

Here are some facts the article conveniently omits when attempting to state the case for amnesty and uncontrolled immigration:

-Illegal immigrants consume almost three times as much in social services as they are estimated to pay in state and federal taxes (for those that pay taxes) to the tune of $2,300 per worker, as opposed to the $7,700 each consumes, regardless of their tax burden, or lack thereof. However, it has been estimated that amnesty for illegals could double the cost of socialization. (U.S. Congressional Budget Office) {The USCBO is the committee that was pushing for the Bush guest-worker program in an attempt to regain some of the bleeding costs of undocumented workers}

The businesses that exploit these undocumented immigrants are culpable for perpetuating the problem. They feel as if they need the skilled laborers for cheap costs because of the poorly conceived minimum wage laws. Why hire-on some kid that knows nothing for $8.50 an hour when they can pay a trained and skilled worker $4.50 an hour for better work? (By the way, on the whole, the minimum wage leads to the loss of jobs and higher product costs. It actually hurts the economy)

-The same Social Security Administration touted in the article approximates $57.8 Billion in 2003, $64 Billion in 2004, $73 Billion in 2005, and an estimated $81.3 Billion in 2006 were "unresolved," or untaxed wages paid-out to illegal immigrants. (SSA Quality and Efficiency Board, 2007) Putting those numbers together with the estimated (and generous) $9 Billion in SS taxes and $6.5 Billion in other state and federal taxes collected, there is still a net LOSS of $37 Billion to the American tax payer over the course of the same four years. That's just in taxes we COULD have, not actual loses.

The SSA spends an additional $100 million trying to recover these taxes, but only resolves 2% of the cases. There's another net loss of roughly 80-90 million dollars that are not taken into account.

-Just in case someone wants to make this about racism, research by George Borjas (Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University), Jeffrey Grogger (the Irving Harris Professor in Urban Policy in the Harris School at the University of Chicago), and Gordon H. Hanson (the Director of the Center on Pacific Economies and Professor of Economics at UCSD) found that a 10-percent immigrant-induced increase in the supply of a particular skill group reduced the black wage by 4.0 percent, lowered the employment rate of black men by 3.5 percentage points, and increased the incarceration rate of blacks by almost one percent.

Now, truth be told, holding wages in-check isn't a bad thing for an ailing economy. We would all do well to study wages and the tax code and their ramifications on the economy as a whole. Less taxes means more money available to create better, higher paying jobs. The info on "Black" wages is just to demonstrate a point on how racism is not the perpetuating factor in the animus and resentment toward illegal immigrants.

-The drain on health care and judicial systems in America is estimated to be $30 BILLION for every 6 million undocumented workers (which is $120 Billion a year, at an uncompensated rate of 80%-conservatively- which is a net loss of 96 Billion a year in health care alone, (AMA Testimony before congress on the health care cost and crisis in America, 2005) and another $10 Billion in Prison systems and court systems fees {Federal Bureau of Prisons}. The FBP claims 1/3 of the current prison population in America is comprised of non-citizen illegals.

The net loss per 6 million illegals only calculates to $5,000 per individual in the health care system. That's a VERY conservative number indeed.

As a side-bar, but related fact, the February 2008 edition of the American Pediatric Association Journal has an article stating that the vast majority (70%) of the growing uncompensated cost of medical care for undocumented workers is for childbirth related expenses. These children are called anchor babies because they now have a U.S. Citizen living under their care.

-The strain on the U.S. education system is estimated to be $12 Billion yearly (U.S. Department of Education Report, 2006)

-All told, counting the jobs illegals do that "no one else wants," plus taxes collected, plus contributions to the national and local economies, we have a net loss of nearly $130 billion per anum in America because of illegal immigration. But that's not all.....

-The Center for Disease Control has said, because of the mutations of the common cold virus, tuberculosis, pertussis, and influenza "We know not the exact number of cases of each new virus or disease we have in this country. The undocumented and uncontrolled influx of foreign nationals through all borders and coasts may only be characterized as one of the greatest threats to global wellness, which will almost certainly result in a pandemic, or pandemics, that would dwarf any medical crisis recorded in human history." (CDC Review 2004)

Let there be no mistake, I have no problem with legal immigration. I want others to bring us "their poor, their tired, their huddled masses yearning to be free." However, those that checked-in on Staten Island gave us their name (though not always legitimate), submitted to a baggage check, and a health screening. I don't want to hear about the plight of the undocumented worker and their lost tax return. I don't give a crap, and neither should you. They are a threat to national security, the free and legal citizens of this country, and the future well-being of these United States.

So, to write an article with the intention of "dispelling ignorance on illegal immigration and taxes" and leave-out even more vital numbers, facts, and risks is criminal when attempting to turn the attention from the ever-growing threat of illegal and uncontrolled immigration.
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