Taxes and Spending Power
The contributions immigrants make as both taxpayers and consumers are indispensable to the U.S. economy. Nationally, immigrants earned $1.3 trillion in 2014 and contributed $105 billion in state and local taxes and almost $224 billion in federal taxes. This left them with nearly $927 billion in spending power, which they frequently used to purchase goods and services, stimulate local business activity, and create jobs in the broader U.S. economy.
Houston Public Media: During Tax Season Undocumented Texans Were Filing, Too
In Texas alone, the undocumented population paid an estimated $1.9 billion to the IRS. That’s according to 2016 research by the New American Economy Research Fund. They estimate that, in Texas, undocumented immigrants paid another $1.3 billion to local and state governments. “For Uncle Sam, your migratory status doesn’t matter,”… Read More
Cleveland.com: Global Ties Akron to launch international ‘Global Threads’ magazine
Global Ties Akron is one of only six organizations in the country to be awarded state funding for a cultural heritage project to be unveiled at the Akron Art Museum. “Global Threads” is an online international magazine that will launch Sunday, April 22 from 1-5 p.m. at the museum. Read More
After Fleeing Bloodshed in Gambia, Immigrant Entrepreneur Starts Successful Business in Little Rock
In 2000, when Maf Sonko was 15, his family fled a bloody government crackdown on student demonstrations in their native Gambia. They received asylum and settled in North Carolina, where Sonko finished high school and earned a degree in industrial engineering from North Carolina State University Since then, Sonko… Read More
Caller Times Opinion: Why Congress shouldn’t cut legal immigration
Leticia Chavez represents everything that’s good about the Christus Health System. She cares deeply for her patients, and consistently validates their dignity as she compassionately tends to them in our intensive care unit (ICU). Leticia is uniquely empathetic. Like many of our patients, and tens of thousands of South Texas… Read More
The News-Gazette: Champaign Community Coalition gets first look at report on immigrant population
At Wednesday’s immigration-focused meeting of the city’s Community Coalition, attendees were encouraged to learn more about Champaign County’s 1-in-10 foreign-born residents. A preview of a report on the county’s immigrant population was presented at the meeting. The full report, due out in May, was created by the University YMCA’s New… Read More
50 Chambers of Commerce Call on Congress to Pass Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Dreamers
New York, NY — Today, over 50 chambers of commerce from 24 states signed an open letter to Congressional leadership calling for bipartisan legislation to protect Dreamers. The undersigned business leaders recognize the important role Dreamers play in keeping our workforce young and competitive, contributing to the tax base, and… Read More
UB Now: UB to host fifth annual Refugee Health Summit
UB will host its fifth annual WNY Refugee Health Summit from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 20 at the Educational Opportunity Center, 555 Ellicott St., Buffalo. The summit unites 150 clinicians, resettlement caseworkers, community health workers, researchers, students, municipal leaders and refugees to understand the many factors affecting health… Read More
Cleveland.com: North Akron CDC, Exchange House encourage entrepreneurs for North Akron Market
In preparation for the first North Akron Market, the Exchange House is seeking prepared food producers, farmers, crafters and artisans to fill the vendors slots. The first market is set for Saturday, May 5 from 2-7 p.m. at the Exchange house, 760 Elma St. in North Hill neighborhood. With a… Read More
After Leaving Extreme Poverty in Mexico, Student Dreams of American Citizenship
Had she not come to America, Monica Alcaraz would have faced a life of extreme poverty in Guanajuato, Mexico. The youngest of 16 children, she often didn’t have enough to eat. So when her older sister married a U.S. citizen and moved to Texas in 1986, Alcaraz—then four years old… Read More
Household Income of Immigrants
In 2014, more than 72 percent of foreign-born population in the United States was working-aged, compared to less than half of U.S.-born residents. This reality allowed immigrants to earn well over a trillion dollars of income in 2014—a greater amount than their portion of the U.S. population overall.
Tax Contributions
A notable portion of the income earned by immigrants each year funnels directly back to our government in the form of tax revenues. In some states, immigrants contribute more than one out of every four tax dollars paid by local residents each year—supporting taxpayer-funded services like public schools and police departments.
States Where Immigrants Contributed the Largest Share of Total Tax Revenues, 2014
Spending Power
Spending power is the disposable income left to households after deducting their annual tax contributions. The $9.3 billion in total spending power held by immigrant led households in 2014 allowed them to hold considerable power as consumers. By spending on goods and services, immigrants strengthen the U.S. economy and provide jobs to American workers as well as the businesses dependent upon paying customers.
Foreign-Born Population’s Amount and Share of Spending Power by State, 2014
Medicare and Social Security
Our Social Security and Medicare programs are already facing serious financial challenges—a pattern expected to worsen as large numbers of Baby Boomers retire and leave the workforce altogether. While the United States had roughly 16 workers paying into our entitlement programs for every one retiree in 1950, that number is projected to drop to just two workers for every retiree by 2035.1 Immigrants are already playing an important role supplementing our entitlement programs: One NAE study found that between 1996 and 2011 immigrants contributed $182.4 billion more to Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund—the core trust fund in the program—than was expended on their care.
Sources:
1 “10 Truths About America’s Entitlement Programs, Address by R. Bruce Josten Executive Vice President of Government Affairs U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce, accessed September 21, 2016. Available online.
Bolstering the Housing Market
By purchasing homes in neighborhoods formerly in decline, immigrants in recent decades have had a positive impact on U.S. housing values overall. From 2000 to 2010, each of the 40 million immigrants in the United States added, on average, 11.6 cents to the value of a home in their local county. That seems small, but it adds up. In fact, it resulted in immigrants growing U.S. housing wealth by $3.7 trillion during that period.2 Immigrants are also expected to play a key role buying up homes as baby boomers downsize in the coming years: Almost 30 percent of American homeowners were older than age 65 in 2014.
Sources:
2 Jacob Vigdor, “Immigration and the Revival of American Cities,” New American Economy, 2013 Available online.
Immigrant Subgroups
Regardless of where the immigrants came from, they contribute a tremendous amount of money to the U.S. economy as taxpayers and consumers. In this section, we show the amount earned and contributed in taxes by different ethnic and national origin groups within the foreign-born population.
Taxes & Spending Power of Major Immigrant Subgroups
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