Study: Illegals contribute to economy
By Gregg MacDonald
The combined annual income of Virginia's estimated 250,000 to 300,000 undocumented immigrant workers could be as high as $3.6 billion, contributing up to $453 million in taxes, according to a report released last Thursday by the Commonwealth Institute.The study, titled “Fiscal Facts: Tax Contributions of Virginia’s Undocumented Immigrants,” estimates the magnitude of the tax contribution made by the state’s undocumented population. It calculates that Virginia’s undocumented population pays an estimated total of between $145 million and $174 million in state income taxes, sales and excise taxes and property taxes. It also estimates that undocumented immigrants working on the books pay an additional $114 million to $137 million in Social Security, and Medicare taxes, which are matched by their employers.
According to Michael Cassidy, executive director of The Commonwealth Institute, “a belief seems to exist that undocumented immigrants don’t pay any taxes and this simply is not true. In fact, some taxes – such as sales and property taxes – are impossible to avoid. Some of the loudest voices in the immigration discussion describe undocumented immigrants as ‘takers.’ This is not a productive approach to arriving at policy solutions that promote prosperity for the Commonwealth and all of its residents.”
To come up with its financial numbers for undocumented workers, the study partnered with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). According to the Commonwealth Institute, ITEP maintains a model of state and local tax structures that allows it to estimate the taxes paid by different income groups within a state.
"Using estimates of Virginia's undocumented population and the income earned by undocumented families, ITEP's model provides a vehicle by which the sales, income and property taxes paid by Virginia's undocumented families may be estimated," the study says.
Citing a 2005 report by the Pew Hispanic Center, the Commonwealth Institute report analysis estimates that the average income for an undocumented family at $27,400. "Whether the Pew Center's national figure mirrors what is happening in Virginia is not clear," the study states. "The actual state average may be higher or lower."
Del. Tom Rust (R-Herndon), who recently sponsored two anti-illegal-immigration bills in the Virginia House of Delegates, said he was not yet familiar with the study but wrote in an e-mail that illegal immigration continues to persist as a problem for Virginia.
Del. Dave Albo (R-Springfield), another outspoken illegal immigration critic, said the Commonwealth Institute study only tells half the story.
"Tell me exactly how an illegal alien pays state income tax when he or she doesn't have a Social Security number?" he said. "Furthermore, what the study is not factoring in is the illegal aliens' statewide impact on the costs of education, emergency health care because of lack of health insurance, and 12,000 illegal aliens in state jails right now."
Albo estimated that the state cost of education alone for children of illegal aliens is over $1 billion per year.