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.
New data shows Atlanta’s immigrant household income grew by 13 percent in one year
New York – Today New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan research and advocacy organization focused on immigration, released new data highlighting the significant contributions immigrants make to the Atlanta community… Read More
New Report Shows Immigrants in Northern Kentucky Contributed Over $116 Million in Taxes
Fort Mitchell, KY – Immigrant households in Northern Kentucky earned nearly $430 million and paid over $116 million in taxes in 2017, according to new research by New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of… Read More
Greensboro News & Record: Save TPS, and keep North Carolina families together
As the summer begins, most freshmen at Wake Technical Community College are happily looking forward to home-cooked meals and time with their families. For me, though, the vacation will be anything but carefree. My parents are immigrants, and while they’ve played by the rules since coming here more than 20… Read More
El Paso’s number of immigrant entrepreneurs grew by 25 percent in just one year
New York – Today New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan research and immigration advocacy organization, released new data highlighting the significant contributions immigrants make to the El Paso community and economy. The data shows that immigrants in El Paso are crucial job creators — the metro area’s… Read More
The Advocate Guest column: Lawmakers should support American Dreamers
As a researcher and educator who studies migration, I’ve interviewed many young adults who were brought to the United States as undocumented children. I can tell you that these hardworking and resilient young people, often known as Dreamers, deeply love this country and are eager to realize their God-given potential. Read More
Tampa Bay Times Column: U.S. House should pass Dream and Promise Act
Eight years ago, I was living every college graduate’s nightmare: After spending so much time and money studying health science at Hillsborough Community College, I was stuck making minimum wage as a manager at a local shoe store. As an undocumented immigrant without a work permit, I didn’t have many… Read More
New Report Shows Asheville’s Immigrants Contributed Close to $1 Billion in GDP in 2016
Asheville, NC – Asheville’s immigrant households earned $489 million and contributed more than $113 million in taxes in 2016, according to new research by New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Coalition of Asheville – Buncombe County. The report will… Read More
New Report Shows Immigrants in Roanoke Contributed Over $75 Million in Taxes in 2017
Roanoke, VA – Immigrant households earned nearly $304 million and contributed over $75 million in taxes in 2017, according to new research by New American Economy (NAE) in partnership with the City of Roanoke and Local Colors, a non-profit that celebrates the city’s… Read More
Richmond Times-Dispatch Opinion: Luis Angel Aguilar column: Fighting to stay out of the shadows
Since I was 15 years old, I’ve always felt anxious about looking for a job. I worried an employer might discover I was an undocumented immigrant. For nearly a decade, I managed to slide under the radar and take whatever jobs I could get in construction, restaurants and hotel housekeeping. Read More
The Guardian Opinion: I won a Pulitzer. Yet Trump wants to deport me because I’m undocumented
In September 2017, I sat with my friends in a Ball State University library room trying to come to terms with the news that Donald Trump had just shut down the program that gives undocumented immigrants like me the legal right to work and live in the United States. My… 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.
