Untaxed: Foreign-born workers send $150 billion a year to their home country, says study

Washington Times ^ | May 22, 2019 | By Jennifer Harper

[Jim Robinson]

Foreign-born workers are sending some $150 billion a year home in remittances to friends, family members and associates outside the United States, says a new study published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nonpartisan public interest group.

Such remittances are generally not subjected to international money transfer taxes, or sales and excise taxes.

“Illegal aliens alone remit more than $28 billion annually. This $150 billion represents a direct loss to our economy, siphoning off valuable capital and reducing government revenues,” the nonprofit said in their study, which is based on an analysis of current U.S. Census and World Bank data.

[Jim Robinson]

Another reason to build it and a great source for wall funding.

[SaveFerris]

Apply some levy (whatever the proper term / method is), say 33%, on this money. It’s been my desire to do this for years.

We’ll get money and they’ll start spending more here, eventually.

Win-win for us.

[EasySt]

And while we're at it...

[Liz]

ping

[Romulus]

Pretty sad day when “conservatives” go for confiscation of private property. If income taxes are paid in full, what’s the rationale in an additional imposition? Once the government gets hooked on skimming these remittances, what makes anyone think it will not proceed to skim all international money transfers?

[bigbob]

Can it be done without Congress, though?

If not, add this to the long and growing list of successes chalked up by Paul Ryan for the Ruling Class and Cheap Labor Express.

[TADSLOS]

That’s a whole lotta wall.

[Jim Robinson]

ILLEGAL ALIENS!

[deport]

a great source for wall funding

************

Very true. In areas where a lot of these illegals are that work in the
construction industry you’ll see them lined up in local stores etc
that will cash their checks and wire money back home. They keep some
and the rest leaves the country. You’ll see this on Thurs/Fridays about
3pm or so.

They do a lot of the jobs that in the past lower educated black/white did.
Manual labor mostly.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

The assumption is that they are working under the table and not paying any tax on the money they are sending out in remittances. I believe the most people sending out remittances aren’t Mexican. First prize for that goes to India.

[TheConservativeTejano]

Apply some levy (whatever the proper term / method is), say 33%, on this money. It’s been my desire to do this for years. We’ll get money and they’ll start spending more here, eventually. Win-win for us.

Partner, we have been saying there is more than $30 Billion a year going to Mexico right now and we in the U.S. are not receiving one cent.

We have around way too many Illegal Aliens right now in the U.S. and most of them from Mexico and now from other Central American countries. We are spending more money on Education, Hospital care, Housing, Food Stamps and other stuff. The American Taxpayer foots the bill on these charges. The MSM and the Demon Rat party in Congress has never ever read the U.S. Constitution since it says that these Aliens do not have any rights whatsever being in this country and therefore should not get any of these benefits that I mentioned before.

Yes, we agree with ya that we should at least apply some tax or levy on these massive amount of $$$$.

We could use the $$$ for the building of the 30' minimum tall Southern Border Wall.

[Sans-Culotte]

The assumption is that they are working under the table and not paying any tax on the money they are sending out in remittances.

That's a bingo!

[ThanhPhero]

I count as a Vietophile, I suppose, but I have been very close to the Vietnamese community hereabouts since I went to the Eglin refugee camps 40+ years ago and found someone I knew. All the money sent to the families back home fueled an economic revolution in Việt Nam. The money built clandestine business until the Old Men in Hà Nọi had mostly died off and the younger men were in power who understood that if VN did not grow rich it would become a province of China and the Đời Mới, the New life with its free markets and more freedom was instituted. All that money that was already there and that which kept coming in went into building commerce and production and the people are well aware of where it all came from. They revered and still appreciate America and are our one effective and solid ally in the region. Obama made it hard for that alliance to continue but they stood it and the president President understands the value of that alliance. The Vietnamese here in the aggregate- there are individual exceptions of course, are all into assimilation and making it on their own terms. They, like the first and second generations of Cubans down south are averse to government growth and interference. Both groups have had bad experiences of two types of government and prefer to keep government at a distance.

All the money going back to Mexico and Central America or the Middle East only enrich the rulers there and the people coming from those areas do not attribute their misery to government but to their rulers and neighbors. They want protection and free stuff like they have seen on the advertisements back home. They send the money home because they have euchred it out of Tio Sucre. Working hard for some of it is just what they make you do.

[edwinland]

It’s not fair to say the amount hasn’t been taxed. It may or may not have been taxed when earned.

If a legal alien earns $50,000 and pay all his taxes on that amount, it’s up to him what to do with the amount the government didn’t take. If he wants to send $10,000 after tax to his mom in Mexico, that’s his business.

HOWEVER, if I want to send more than $10,000 to Canada for an investment, the bank (at the prodding of the Federal Government) will make me either attest or in some cases prove that I obtained that money legally (for example by selling another investment). This to prevent money laundering.

Also if a U.S. company pays a dividend to a foreign investor, the IRS forces the company to withhold federal taxes and pay them to the IRS, which the investor can treat as a credit against any taxes he owes (on that income and other income) when and if he files his US taxes showing the income.

Here’s a simple and quite reasonable suggestion:

Whenever someone sends any money as a personal money transfer overseas, the bank should withhold taxes at the personal income tax rate (maybe assume 30%) which it delivers to the IRS. Then let the individual who sent the money use that withheld amount as a credit when and if they file their U.S. taxes.

That way, if they earned the money legally and paid taxes on it, they’ll get the money back as a refund and their net tax amount won’t change. If they don’t file or they didn’t pay tax on the money when they earned it, this is the way the government can make sure it collects taxes on the income before it leaves the system.

[Sarcasm Factory]

As much as one is tempted to slam down punitive taxation on these folks, setting the levy too high will simply drive the flow of dollars underground. Bitcoin comes to mind. I'd start with a very modest transfer tax of two percent, which would presumably be earmarked for "border security" -- meaning the wall. It'd be difficult for opponents to deny the fairness of such a small percentage. Three billion dollars a year will pay for a fair amount of hardware. The levy can then be gradually bumped up to as much as four percent, which is still very reasonable and still unlikely to spark a mass migration to underground channels.

Build the wall!
Make it tall.
It helps us all.
Let's not stall --
Build the wall!

^_^

[McGavin999]

Ha ha ha ha, what a joke. In 90% of the cases these people work under the table. No taxes paid

[A_Former_Democrat]

Gee, who’s been suggesting a remittance tax/fee for months here?

[Carriage Hill]

Tax it 10-20%, and build the wall.

[SaveFerris]

yep

[Lurkinanloomin]

We have to ramp up enforcement by a factor of 10.

We are not bailing as fast as the ship is taking on water.