Contrary to popular opinion, they pay their way. Same thing happens on the national level. Maybe more illegals and we can balance the budget? Spoiler alert...stop reading when I say "this is bad".
Published: Feb. 27, 2009 3:00 a.m.
Study: Immigrants vital to economy even amid budget crisis
BY CINDY CARCAMO
The Orange County Register
Immigrants -- legal and illegal -- have come under fire lately, blamed for California's $42 billion deficit.
Some anti-illegal immigration groups estimate that immigrants -- both legal and illegal -- cost the state an estimated $18 billion a year. The figure is calculated from the taxes immigrants pay minus the costs for services, they say.
Some statistics from the Immigration Policy Center study:
?The 2008 purchasing power of California's Latinos was $249 billion and $162.8 billion for Asians, the highest of any state in the nation.
?Immigrants in California pay roughly $30 billion in federal taxes, $5.2 billion in state income taxes, and $4.6 billion in sales taxes each year.
?The average immigrant-headed household contributes a net $2,679 annually to Social Security, which is $539 more than the average US-born household.
?43.6% of immigrants in California were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2007 -- up from 31.2% in 1990
Source: NEW AMERICANS IN THE GOLDEN STATE: Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians Indispensable to California Economy study
In response, The Immigration Policy Center, a Washington D.C.-based pro-immigration think tank, has issued a report filled with statistics, stating that immigrants are vital to the state's economy.
California's immigrants move up the socioeconomic ladder over time -- learning English, buying homes and escaping poverty, according to a report the center released Thursday.
"People have the tendency to look at immigrants and have the Peter Pan fallacy," said Manuel Pastor, co-director of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California. "They think of them as? never aging, the fellow standing in Home Depot and think the same immigrant is there 20 years later."
The report states that Latinos and Asians account for more than one-quarter of California's businesses and buying power. In addition, most native-born Californians have experienced wage gains from immigration, according to "New Americans Vital to Golden State Economy: California's Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians are a Political and Economic Powerhouse."
During 1990 to 2004, immigration induced a 4 percent wage increase for the average native worker, according to the report.
The reason for wage increases, the study said, is because immigrant workers often serve as complements to native workers rather than as their direct competitors for jobs, thereby increasing total economic output, the study reported. Native workers benefit because they are able to specialize in more productive work.
Not all analysts agree with the optimistic picture, however.
The biggest benefit to immigration is to the immigrants themselves and to more affluent natives, said Steve Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-illegal immigrant think tank that favors enforcement of immigration laws
"The best estimate we have for California suggests pretty strongly that immigration is playing a sizeable portion in the state's budget problems," he said.
Camarota said most of the $18 billion in costs are incurred by legal immigrants rather than people who are in the country illegally because he said this group is more reluctant to access services for themselves and don't qualify for welfare in the state. He said his findings were based on a 1996 study from the National Research Council.
Other demographers have criticized putting a figure on the cost to benefit of immigration, stating that the exact fiscal effect is difficult to calculate and ultimately unclear. Critics say there are a variety of floating estimates, especially on the Web, that are usually distorted because it doesn't paint an entire picture.
While the study says immigrants help native workers, Camarota contends that the biggest losers to illegal immigration are the low-skilled or minority natives.
The study also contends that the political implications of new Americans are significant.
One-quarter of California's registered voters are immigrants or the children of immigrants, according to the study.
"They're not going anywhere and how we do by them and their parents will determine the future of not just those families but the region as a whole," Pastor said.
ocregister.com
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During their working life, undocumented immigrants in the United States will pay, on average, approximately $80,000 more in taxes per capita than they use in government services, owing to the fact that they are not eligible to take advantage of almost all of the social service programs offered by the federal government, according to a study released by the National Council of La Raza...
oh, my, this is bad; don't look..
The report cites the Texas Comptroller's disclosure that, in 2006, undocumented immigrants paid about $424.7 million more in state revenues - including sales tax and school property tax - than they used in state services, including education and health care...
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