Posted on 02/01/2006 7:26:41 AM PST by Tyche
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Remittances sent home by Mexicans living abroad rose to US$20 billion (euro16.5 billion) in 2005, a 17 percent increase over the year before, the Bank of Mexico reported Tuesday.
Remittances climbed by more than US$5.3 billion (euro4.4 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2005 alone, the bank said. They totaled US$16.6 billion (euro13.7 billion) in 2004.
Remittances have been climbing steadily for years, surpassing the amount the country receives from tourism, which totaled US$10.7 billion (euro8.8 billion) in 2005.
Imagine if we raised spending by that much on immigration enforcement.
And how much of this is paid under the table to illegals who collect entitlement benefits and subsidies?
And what percentage is that of Mexico's GNP? I'm sure this accounts for a very significant part of their entire economy.
and so they DO help the US economy by all this money taking flight from the USA - right??
Only sending money to other countries Americans won't.
Remittances are Mexico's number 1 earner of foreign exchange.
The funny thing is that oil revenues have doubled as well in the last couple years.
And still the people pour over the border from Mexico.
I think we ought to put a 20% tax on remittances to cover the costs of the illegals. There is schooling, medical, and law enforcement costs to be offset. If we're not going to stop the illegals from coming into the country, perhaps we can do something about all the money flowing out of our economy.
Parasiting our economy as well as our jobs. All take and no give back.
The Bank of America branches that I have been in in Las Vegas are plastered with posters in Spanish telling customers that they can send money to Mexico for free if they have a Bank of America account. Also, I have also noticed that a large percentage of the tellers are now Hispanic. It is no surprise to me that the amount of money sent to Mexico is massive.
Hey, I've got an idea. How about any fund transfered out of the US to Mexico in excess of $1,000 must be reported to the INS and the IRS.
How do you figure that? The Mexicans are working here, producing goods and services. Then they turn around and don't demand anything in return.
It looks like they give and don't take to me.
"Then they turn around and don't demand anything in return."
Have you been to a hospital emergency room in the past 3 years?
Do you bid on job contracts where your competition is using illegal labor that allows them to under bid you because you obey the hiring laws and pay payroll taxes on your employees?
Banco Mexico Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
And that is just Mexico. When you add up all the remittances to other countries that send their illegals here the number is over $50 billion. That is money that should be circulating in our economy creating jobs and wealth for Americans but is now gone forever.
You need to educate yourself then. Try reading this: The High Cost of Cheap Labor. There cost at the Federal level is huge.
And that study does not address their cost at the state level which is much larger because most of the taxes they pay are Federal and most of the services they consume are State. In California, net of the taxes they pay, their cost to taxpayers is over $10 billion. In Florida, and Texas it is about $3 billion a piece. And it is rising fast in a lot of other states.
Illegals are a great deal for the employers who get cheap labor but they are a tremendous loser for taxpayers who subsidize the cheap labor.
Yes, that is a lot of money. Put a 15% Tariff on remittances, and you could have a border fence system paid for in a year.
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