Posted on 03/31/2006 12:13:03 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
Princeton University sociologist Douglas S. Massey reports that 62 percent of illegal immigrants pay income taxes (via withholding) and 66 percent contribute to Social Security. Forbes magazine notes that Mexican illegals aren't clogging up the social-services system: only 5 percent receive food stamps or unemployment assistance; 10 percent send kids to public schools.
Economist Larry Kudlow praises Hispanic entrepreneurship: "According to 2002 Census Bureau data, Hispanics are opening businesses at a rate three times faster than the national average. In addition, there were almost 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generating $222 billion in revenue in 2002."
Total crime and property crime in California are half what they were in 1980; violent crime has fallen more than a third. The state's Hispanic population during that time has increased 120 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
It is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrant workers pay taxes. But according to specialists, most of them do. Since 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act set penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, most such workers have been forced to buy fake ID's to get a job.
Currently available for about $150 on street corners in just about any immigrant neighborhood in California, a typical fake ID package includes a green card and a Social Security card. It provides cover for employers, who, if asked, can plausibly assert that they believe all their workers are legal. It also means that workers must be paid by the book - with payroll tax deductions.
IRCA, as the immigration act is known, did little to deter employers from hiring illegal immigrants or to discourage them from working. But for Social Security's finances, it was a great piece of legislation.
Starting in the late 1980's, the Social Security Administration received a flood of W-2 earnings reports with incorrect - sometimes simply fictitious - Social Security numbers. It stashed them in what it calls the "earnings suspense file" in the hope that someday it would figure out whom they belonged to.
The file has been mushrooming ever since: $189 billion worth of wages ended up recorded in the suspense file over the 1990's, two and a half times the amount of the 1980's.
In the current decade, the file is growing, on average, by more than $50 billion a year, generating $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes.
In 2002 alone, the last year with figures released by the Social Security Administration, nine million W-2's with incorrect Social Security numbers landed in the suspense file, accounting for $56 billion in earnings, or about 1.5 percent of total reported wages.
Social Security officials do not know what fraction of the suspense file corresponds to the earnings of illegal immigrants. But they suspect that the portion is significant.
"Our assumption is that about three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes," said Stephen C. Goss, Social Security's chief actuary, using the agency's term for illegal immigration.
Other researchers say illegal immigrants are the main contributors to the suspense file. "Illegal immigrants account for the vast majority of the suspense file," said Nick Theodore, the director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Especially its growth over the 1990's, as more and more undocumented immigrants entered the work force."
Using data from the Census Bureau's current population survey, Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, an advocacy group in Washington that favors more limits on immigration, estimated that 3.8 million households headed by illegal immigrants generated $6.4 billion in Social Security taxes in 2002.
A comparative handful of former illegal immigrant workers who have obtained legal residence have been able to accredit their previous earnings to their new legal Social Security numbers. Mr. Camarota is among those opposed to granting a broad amnesty to illegal immigrants, arguing that, among other things, they might claim Social Security benefits and put further financial stress on the system.
The mismatched W-2's fit like a glove on illegal immigrants' known geographic distribution and the patchwork of jobs they typically hold. An audit found that more than half of the 100 employers filing the most earnings reports with false Social Security numbers from 1997 through 2001 came from just three states: California, Texas and Illinois. According to an analysis by the Government Accountability Office, about 17 percent of the businesses with inaccurate W-2's were restaurants, 10 percent were construction companies and 7 percent were farm operations. -- Source
"and then I want to know WHY they are still here if this ivory tower can find them.'
Silly...throw them out and give up all those billions?
Most surveys I've seen suggest that legal immigrants despise illegals.
"The majority of people who pay into Social Security work for someone else. Their employer deducts Social Security taxes from their paycheck, matches that contribution and sends wage reports and taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Social Security. But self-employed people must report their earnings and pay the taxes directly to the IRS.
You are self-employed if you operate a trade, business or profession, either by yourself or as a partner. You report your earnings for Social Security when you file your federal income tax return. If your net earnings are $400 or more in a taxable year, you must report your earnings on Schedule SE for Social Security coverage purposes, in addition to the other tax forms you must file.
The Social Security tax rate for 2005 is 15.3 percent (the same as 2004) on self-employment income up to $90,000. If your net earnings exceed $90,000, you continue to pay only the Medicare portion of the Social Security tax, which is 2.9 percent, on the rest of your earnings. There are two income tax deductions that reduce your tax liability. The deductions are intended to make sure self-employed people are treated in much the same way as employers and employees for Social Security and income tax purposes.
First, your net earnings from self-employment are reduced by an amount equal to half of your total Social Security tax. This is similar to the way employees are treated under the tax laws in that the employer's share of the Social Security tax is not considered income to the employee.
Second, you can deduct half of your Social Security tax on the IRS Form 1040 (line 29). This means the deduction is taken from your gross income in determining adjusted gross income. It cannot be an itemized deduction and must not be listed on your Schedule C.
If you have wages as well as self-employment earnings, the tax on your wages is paid first. But this rule is important only if your total earnings are more than $90,000. For example, if you have $20,000 in wages and $30,000 in self-employment income in 2005, you pay the appropriate Social Security taxes on both your wages and business earnings. However, if your 2005 wages are $100,000 and you have $10,000 in net earnings from a business, you do not pay dual Social Security taxes on earnings above $90,000. Your employer will withhold 7.65 percent in Social Security taxes up to $90,000 and 1.45 percent (the Medicare portion of an employee's tax rate) on earnings between $90,000 and $100,000. And you must pay the 2.9 percent Medicare self-employment tax (not the full Social Security tax) on your $10,000 in self-employment earnings.
Please Note: The IRS is the authority on tax matters."
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/ssa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=172&p_created=955651537&p_sid=FbLiXT3i&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NTQmcF9wcm9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PTEuOSZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1
I think the stats that were cited in the article that started this thread have been thoroughly debunked. Should we look again at the stat that says only 10% of children attend tax-supported schools?
I KNOW why, you all won't see what's as plain as the nose on your face.
They most certainly have not.
I just quoted Steven Camarota supporting the figures on illegals who pay taxes.
More enabling appologistic nonsense from a person that thinks it's okay to have illegal aliens murdering, raping, robing, assulting and committing gang activity on U.S. soil.
Illegal immigrant crime should be non-existant. Not one illegal immigrant should be here.
Why do you front for illegal Luis? Who do you like them to murder et al on our soil?
I suggest you direct your ire at the posts that have gotten your undies in an uproar. I read this piece by Tony and yes it deserves a barf alert. JMHO... but I'm entitled to mine as much as you are yours.
As far as discussing the facts, you have demonstrated very little ability to do so... I guess you're too busy flaming everyone who doesn't worship Tony Snow.
Main Entry: fine
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: fined; fin·ing;
to impose a fine; punish by fine
Besides, with all due respect, what's it to you? What has any of them ever done to you personally? For example, have any of these people actually committed a crime against you?
That's a spectacularly pathetic framework for weighing public policy issues.
Well, unless you happen to be the fence company. :) Besides, what do you do about the illegals who want to sneak back to Mexico after they pick their fruit in Southern california?
"The problem with Snow's pro-illegal immigration propaganda is based on a statement by Princeton University sociologist Douglas S. Massey."
Should be:
"The problem with Snow's pro-illegal immigration propaganda is *that it is all* based on *one* statement by Princeton University sociologist Douglas S. Massey."
More enabling appologistic nonsense from a person that thinks it's okay to have illegal aliens murdering, raping, robing, assulting and committing gang activity on U.S. soil.
Illegal immigrant crime should be non-existant. Not one illegal immigrant should be here.
Why do you front for illegal aliens Luis? Why do you like them to murder et al on our soil?
I'd like an answer Luis.
You: OK ... and it's clear that at least some of the folks on this thread are of the same opinion, so the comparison at least sticks to them on that point.
Me: No...I've seen no person on this thread say that we should have no immigration, period
You: And, amazingly, that is not even remotely close to the assertion to which I was responding. Please re-read, and try again.
This seems very clear cut to me. You are accusing anti-illegal immigrant posters with being anti-immigrant. You cannot acknowledge that because it would reveal your position to be bogus, a straw man.
There, how was that?:-)
I'll put my track record of discussing facts up against anyone's, including you. You certainly haven't offered up a fact on this thread, incidentally.
When I see supposed "conservatives" trashing Tony Snow, a man whose conservative credentials are really not in question, then yeah, I'll point it out.
Don't like it? Then either back up your criticism or back off. If you're afraid to justify your opinion then that should be noted as well.
That's possible. It's also possible it will trigger a "DUH!!!" moment in the public, who assumed all the time that being here illegally was a serious crime. We're now being told it's the equivalent of a 25 in a 20 zone ticket.
Every poll I've seen says the public is behind strong border controls, including a fence.
Well, if we legalize the people who are already here and working, that solves the tax problem. And I agree with you about not paying for bilingual education. We speak English here. If they want to educate their kids in some other language, they should pay for it. Not you or me.
I'm for open immigration. That's different. And it isn't limited to Mexico or any other specific country.
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