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.
Portland Press Herald Maine Voices: Reform bill would allow DACA recipients to give back to U.S.
Last month, when Democrats introduced legislation to protect young immigrants like me who were brought to the United States as children, I felt a huge wave of relief. Ever since President Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program more than a year and a half… Read More
Las Vegas Sun Letter: Help Dreamers help Nevada
Recently, House Democrats introduced a bill to protect Dreamers — young immigrants who, like me, came to this country as children and want nothing more than the chance to live and work without fear of deportation. Like 13,000 other Nevadans, I have been on a roller coaster of fear and… Read More
Without an H-4 EAD, Hotel Owner Could Lose Business, Fire U.S. Workers
Several times a week, Rakesh Patel makes the 98-mile commute from his home in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to the Gateway Inn & Suites he owns and manages in Waupun. Although the drive can be taxing, Patel is thrilled to run his own business. “I love the… Read More
Orlando Sentinel Opinion: UCF student president: Dreamers bills must be passed
In May, I will graduate from the University of Central Florida with a degree in industrial engineering. I’ve loved my time at UCF, where I currently serve as student body president of the largest undergraduate population in the entire country and hold a position on the Board of… Read More
Dallas News Opinion: Beyond the wall: Why fewer foreign students are coming to Texas
The fallout from the immigration debate doesn’t end at the border wall. President Donald Trump’s words and policies are affecting legal immigration, too, and the consequences are evident at U.S. universities. Last year, applications to graduate programs from international students declined for the second year in a row, and… Read More
New American Economy Endorses the Dream and Promise Act of 2019
NEW YORK – Today, Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), and Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY) introduced the Dream and Promise Act of 2019 (H.R. 6), which provides permanent legal protections and a path to citizenship for Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. New American Economy issued the following… Read More
New Data Shows Houston’s Immigrants Generate More than a Quarter of the Area’s GDP
HOUSTON, TX – New data from New American Economy (NAE) shows that immigrants are responsible for more than 26 percent of the Houston metro area’s GDP. The report, which analyzes Census data from 2016, looks at immigrant contributions to Houston’s workforce, tax base, and major industries. The report was… Read More
Richmond Times Dispatch Opinion: Dreamers deserve the opportunity to live without fear of deportation
A year ago today, I was shaken to my core. March 5 was the day when Congress failed to meet the deadline to save the program that gave young immigrants like me, who were brought to this country as children, the right to work and live without fear of deportation. Read More
New Business Coalition, Texans for Economic Growth, and Texas Business Immigration Coalition Launch Texas Compact on Immigration
AUSTIN — Today marks the launch of Texans for Economic Growth, a coalition of 50 Texas business leaders and associations dedicated to recognizing and supporting the positive impact immigrants have on the Texas economy as business owners, taxpayers, and consumers. With its launch, the Coalition partnered… Read More
Fox News Opinion: Pastor: For me, immigration is biblical — Foreign-born congregants are human beings, not political problems
In May of 2016, I was called to be senior pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church, a prominent Oklahoma congregation in an area well-known for its luxurious homes and gated communities. Many didn’t realize at the time that immigrant and refugee families also resided within blocks of our… 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
Make a contribution
Make a direct impact on the lives of immigrants.
