Thread: Congressional study shows illegal immigrants sap tax dollars

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stor ... ily19.html
A study by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday backs up
the view that undocumented immigrants sap more tax dollars than they
provide, especially in education, health care and law enforcement.


The study pulled together reports from the past five years, using data from
sources including the Pew Hispanic Center, the Rand Corp., the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security and various universities. The Congressional
study also incorporated facts from states, including Arizona, but its
authors acknowledged there was no aggregate estimate that could be applied
to the entire country.


The report says that in 1990, 90 percent of undocumented immigrants
primarily were in six states: California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New
York and Texas.
By 2004, undocumented immigrants had increased tenfold in other states, most
notably Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, according to
statistics from the Pew Hispanic Center.


The report estimates there are 12 million undocumented immigrants
nationwide. Of those, 60 percent are uninsured and 50 percent of the
children are uninsured. Again using 2004 statistics from the Pew Hispanic
Center the average income of undocumented immigrants was $27,400 while
Americans earned $47,800. The difference puts undocumented immigrants in a
lower tax bracket, thus reducing the amount of federal and state income
taxes generated.


The study also showed that while undocumented workers represented just 5
percent of state and federal service costs, their tax revenue did not offset
the amount spent by government. The authors of the study stated that, "the
general consensus is that unauthorized immigrants impose a net cost on state
and local budgets. However, no agreement exists as to the size of, or even
the best way of measuring, that cost at a national level."


In education, which the study notes is the largest single expenditure in
state and local budgets, multiple states reported 20 to 40 percent higher
costs educating non-English speaking students, many of whom come from the
homes of undocumented immigrant parents. Using New Mexico statistics from
2004 as a model, education spending on undocumented immigrants comprised $67
million of the state's $3 billion education budget.


The study estimates there are 53.3 million school-age children in the U.S.,
2 million of whom are undocumented immigrants and another 3 million who are
legal citizens, but whose parents are not.


Undocumented immigrants are more likely to access emergency rooms and urgent
care facilities because most do not have health care, the study said. In
Arizona and other border areas, states paid nearly $190 million in health
care costs for undocumented immigrants in 2000, the study reported. The
amount, which the study says likely has risen since then, represented
one-quarter of all uncompensated health care costs in those states that
year.


While the report found that undocumented immigrants are less likely to be
incarcerated than American natives, it said states still bear a large cost
for the legal process. Based on a report from the U.S./Mexico Border
Counties Coalition from 2001, counties from the four states that border
Mexico spent more than $108 million on law enforcement activities involving
undocumented immigrants. San Diego County in California spent nearly half of
that, with more than $50 million going into law enforcement activities
involving undocumented immigrants.


For more: www.cbo.gov/ftpdoc.cfm?index=8711.

Duplicate:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-94750-pew.html+hispanic