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.
Immigrant helps promote small business development in Middlesex County, NJ
Luis DeLaHoz was granted asylum and moved to the United States in 2004. By 2005, he was running his own-income tax preparation business in New Brunswick. He had a good education behind him. Raised in Manizales, in the coffee region of central Colombia, DeLaHoz had a bachelor’s degree in economics… Read More
New Data Shows Immigrants Make Up More Than 60 Percent of Middlesex County’s STEM Workers and Nearly Half of Business Owners
Immigrants held $9.4 billion in spending power– 42.8 percent of the total spending power in the county–and contributed more than $4 billion in taxes in 2018. Middlesex, NJ — Despite making up 34.5 percent of Middlesex County’s population, immigrants accounted for 64.4 percent of the county’s Science, Technology, Engineering,… Read More
Immigrant restaurateur gives back to the community through Lebanese cuisine
Gus Sleiman’s family left their homeland in 1989 to escape the Lebanese Civil War, a 15-year conflict that killed an estimated 150,000 people and displaced another 900,000 — about one-fifth of the population. Sleiman was 16. The family moved to Michigan then New York and, while visiting a church in… Read More
Lebanese immigrant ensures newcomers have opportunities in Cedar Rapids, IA
When Salma Igram arrived in the United States, she was 18 years old and had never seen a calculator or a hamburger, “let alone a hot dog,” she says. But there she was in her husband’s fast-food restaurant, Jimbo’s, working the griddle and mastering the cash register. “My husband would… Read More
Immigrant credits English language and training opportunities as critical to his success
Tony Golobic jokes that he got his first job in America —cleaning oil-fired boilers —because no one else wanted to do it. “The boilers were red hot, the work was dangerous and dirty,” he says. “But I was making really good money, a lot more money than I ever imagined. Read More
New Data: Wayne County Immigrants Contributed More Than $10.5B to GDP
Detroit, MI – Immigrants contributed more than $10.5 billion to Wayne County’s GDP in 2017, according to new research from New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the Office of the Wayne County Executive and Wayne United. In addition to their financial contributions, including $430.5 million to Social… Read More
New American Economy Statement on Refugee Admissions Cuts
New American Economy on why slashing the refugee program goes against our national values and economic interests Read More
New Report Shows Immigrants in Genesee County Paid More than $100 Million in Taxes in 2017
GENESEE COUNTY, MI – Immigrants paid more than $100 million in taxes in Genesee County in 2017, according to new research from New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the City of Flint Mayor Karen Weaver‘s Office and the International Center of Greater Flint. In addition to their… Read More
New Data Shows Immigrants Are 40 Percent of Business Owners in Dallas County
DALLAS, TX – Immigrants accounted for 40 percent of Dallas County’s business owners in 2017, according to new research from New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce. In addition to their financial contributions, which included paying $2.8 billion in federal taxes and… Read More
New Data Shows Toledo and Lucas County Immigrants are Offsetting Local Population Loss
Toledo, OH – Immigrant community members who live in the City of Toledo and Lucas County have partially offset local population loss, according to new research by New American Economy (NAE). The report, which was published in partnership with Welcome Toledo-Lucas County (TLC), a local cross-sector initiative housed… 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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Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.
