Posted on 12/08/2006 8:17:53 AM PST by Graybeard58
AUSTIN — Undocumented immigrants have boosted the state's economy by $17.7 billion and haven't been a drain on state government — but they did cost local governments $929 million in 2005, the Texas comptroller's office reported Thursday.
The report by Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the first comprehensive effort by the state government to calculate the benefits and costs of having 1.4 million to 1.6 million undocumented immigrants in Texas.
Overall, the survey found undocumented immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive in state services.
But the report's results quickly became part of a brewing legislative debate over whether it is right for people who are in the country illegally to receive services paid for by citizens and legal resident taxpayers.
Most of the undocumented immigrants in Texas are from Latin America, predominantly Mexico. They are the working poor, doing service and construction jobs. But they also will send $5.2 billion home to their native countries this year, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.
In her recent unsuccessful campaign for governor, Strayhorn said the federal government needs to halt illegal immigration. On Thursday, she said her report showed the need for federal immigration reform to make sure needed workers are in the country legally.
"It certainly demonstrates that you need a guest worker program, but you also need a fair immigration plan," Strayhorn said.
The Strayhorn report used a model that was built on how much undocumented immigrants earn as well as the return on capital from their labor to produce an impact on the gross state product. The $17.7 billion positive impact on the state's economy does not factor in any effects of the immigrants sending money home.
The report estimated there are 135,000 undocumented children in the public school system, costing the state $957 million a year. Another 3,792 are in state colleges, costing about $11.2 million.
The cost for the state supplying health care programs for undocumented immigrants was set at $57.9 million.
The state prison system on an average day held 8,931 illegal immigrants, costing a total of $130.6 million a year, the report stated.
The total cost for state services was $1.15 billion, but undocumented immigrants, through sales and property taxes, provided $1.58 billion in taxes for the state. That was a net positive impact to state finances of $424.7 million, Strayhorn said.
But there was a negative impact on local governments.
The total cost to incarcerate immigrants who commit crimes was estimated to be $49 million for counties statewide.
Strayhorn's office estimated the cost was $18.9 million for Harris County, the highest in the state. Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley was second at $5.2 million.
Bexar County was fifth in the state, with an annual cost of $3.9 million.
Another $92.9 million is being spent on courts and probation systems to handle undocumented immigrants.
The biggest local cost was for indigent health care provided by counties and local hospital districts, estimated at $1.3 billion statewide.
But undocumented immigrants in 2005 paid $513 million in local sales and property taxes, leaving a $929 million gap payment gap for local services.
State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, who has introduced controversial legislation to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, said he believes the costs are much higher than those in Strayhorn's report.
Citing a study done by the conservative Lone Star Foundation, Berman said the total cost to the state is $4.5 billion a year to provide services to immigrants, but he said they pay just $1 billion in tax collections.
"This is the net loss to the taxpayers of the state," he said.
Berman said he also supports a guest worker program because the immigrants are needed for the economy. But he said he does not want them to receive any state or local services that are not mandated by federal law.
No doubt that individually there are many fine individuals who are part of the illegal invasion.
Corporately though, the illegal invasion spells disaster for American society.
If you bothered to read the damn article, you would have found that they did that.
I didn't see an estimate on how much it benefits a family who DID NOT HAVE a child molested by a CITIZEN because they could get a sane, educated mexican nanny, instead of a bottom of the barrel citizen for the same money.
You know, you could try reading the article.
A lot of it. I teach illegals ESL. I have several couples who left their children in Nicaragua and came here to work. One woman and her husband were here for 4 years and just got their son up here. I can guarantee you that they work to get money back to their families. They live in large groups in trailers to save money. I like these people a lot and admire them. But I don't see how they are helping the economy as much as this article says.
So you suggest that millions of Americans send their family to a foreign land and then send them money? That just doesn't seem at all practical or reasonable.
Let's just send the illegals back and keep our $5 billion.
how hard is it to do a simple background check on a citizen?
now hard is it to do a simple background check on an illegal?
furthermore, why not raise your own kids?
or the positive impact of lower business costs, making more projects and businesses feasible.
Though I agree wholeheartedly about your points on assimilation. I disagree on the economic issue.
Illeagals comprise 27% of prison population.
Illeagals comprise 27% of prison population
If it costs $50,000 per inmate, and the average illeagal paid 25% of their income in taxes, it would take a combined income of $200,000 just to offset prisoner costs. If the average illeagal made $20,000 and paid 25% of his/her income in taxes it would take 10 working illeagals to pay for every imprisoned illeagal.
Next issue schooling. The government spends almost $11,000 a year per student on education. http://www.reformk12.com/archives/000174.nclk If a family of 4 illeagals have 2 students, thats a cost of $22,000. If we use 25% as the tax figure, mom and dad together would have to make $88,000 a year just to pay their share of the tax burden that their kids are using.
According to this article from 2002 U.S. Prison Population Tops 2 Million, if we use the above stated 27% of prisoners are illeagals, that means there are approximately 540,000 illeagals who are prisoners. Its claimed that there are 12 million illeagals in this country, if we use the general stats from the education link I provided, approximately 1/4 of all illeagals should be under 18, leaving approximately 9 million adult illeagals. Of which approximately 540,000 are in prison. Thats 16:1 non-prisoner to prisoner ratio. If $50,000 per prisoner is accurate, then each adult illeagal would have to pay $312 in taxes for prisoners. Or combined it equals $27 billion dollars.
Add that to education expenses of about 3 million illeagals as students at lets say $10,000 per student, that equals approximately $30 billion dollars.
$27 billion for prisoners and $30 billion for education = $57 billion. Lets divide that by approximately 9 million adult illeagals = $6,333 that each adult illeagal should be paying in taxes just to keep up with the burden they bring to us in prisons and education.
FINANCING THE MEXICAN INVASION
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1750489/posts
What's even worse is the fact that the program will be subsidized by taxpayer dollars.
I believe the problem is more a failure to assimilate than a failure to make money.
Not so. Illegals in California make no more than illegals in Texas. And you are missing the point. Illegals do not pay income taxes in California nor do their employers... They are illegal! So in Texas the illegals pay sales taxes where Texas gets the bulk of their revenue and in California illegals do not pay income taxes, just as in Texas, but California depends more on income taxes.
Correct. That amounts to 125,000 for 12 years and the parents probably need to spend 125 k also.
This is why illegals are so valuable. You let mexico raise them as kids and then they work in the US and we save a quarter million bringing them up.
I like these people and admire their work ethic. But I refuse to hire them, even though I could use their services, because I know that their money is leaving our country.
2 weeks is 14 days or 1,500 miles to 2,100 miles a day or 150 mph for 10 hours to 210 mph for 10 hours.
3 weeks is 21 days or 900 miles to 1,500 miles a day or 90 mph for 10 hours a day or 150 mph for 10 hours a day.
I think you meant to say "I don't know how anyone can do a valid study on the economical impacts when it disagrees with my opinions."
This is exactly how they are helping the US economy. We spend 11,000 a year to educate a kid in the US public school system and probably another 11k per kid that the parents kick in. If you dump the kids off in Nicaragua, you can spend probably one tenth that much.
No, I meant what I said. May not be as eloquently put as others, but the point is clear. Without knowing the total of anything, how can you weigh it's impact?
unlike most of our whorish politicians, you have ethics.
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