Posted on 05/20/2007 2:34:13 AM PDT by dennisw
AMNESTY $$$$$ [Kate O'Beirne]
Tomorrow, The Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector will share the following analysis in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Virtually no attention has been paid to the enormous costs involved in legalizing millions of low-skilled illegal aliens. One problem is that immigration reform is being negotiated by Judiciary Committee lawyers who typically have little experience in budgetary issues. Some Members who might be expected to blanch at a potential price tag of $2.5 trillion on their handiwork are kidding themselves by naively expecting that government benefits will be denied to the newly-legalized. Some know so little about tax burdens and benefit costs that they wrongly believe low-skilled workers are a net benefit to the social security system.
Giving amnesty to illegal immigrants would increase the costs outlined in this testimony. Some 50 to 60 percent of illegal immigrants lack a high school degree. Granting amnesty or conditional amnesty to illegal immigrants would, overtime, increase their use of means-tested welfare, Social Security and Medicare. Fiscal costs would go up significantly in the short term but would go up dramatically after the amnesty recipient reached retirement. Based on my current research, I estimate that if all the current adult illegal immigrants in the U.S. were granted amnesty the net retirement costs to government (benefits minus taxes) could be over $2.5 trillion.
The calculation of this figure is as follows. In March 2006, there were 9.3 million adult illegal immigrants in the U.S. Most illegal immigrants are low-skill. On average, each elderly low-skill immigrant creates a net cost (benefits minus taxes) for the taxpayer of about $17,000 per year. (This includes federal state and local government costs.) If the government gave amnesty to 9.3 million illegal immigrants, most of them would eventually become eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits or Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid benefits.
However, not all of the 9.3 million adults given amnesty would survive till age 67. Normal mortality rates would probably reduce the population by roughly 15 percent before age 67. That would mean 7.9 million individuals would reach 67 and enter retirement.
Of those reaching 67, the average life expectancy would be around 18 years. The net governmental cost (benefits minus taxes) of these elderly individuals would be around $17,000 per year. Over eighteen years of expected life, costs would equal $360,000 per elderly amnesty recipient. A cost of $306,000 per amnesty recipient times 7.9 million amnesty recipients would be $2.4 trillion. These costs would hit the U.S. taxpayer at exactly the point that the Social Security system is expected to go into crisis. This is a preliminary estimate based on my ongoing research. More research should be performed, but I believe policy makers should examine these potential costs carefully before rushing to grant amnesty, “Z visas” or “earned citizenship” to the current illegal immigrant population.
Amnesty proponents may argue that some of these individuals will go home without getting benefits, or before they reach retirement age. Though perhaps valid, that argument only emphasizes how expensive amnesty recipients would be; the longer they remain in the country the greater the cost to the taxpayer.
Little wonder that supporters of "comprehensive" immigration reform are racing against the clock. They best hurry up and pass this EXPENSIVE bill before taxpayers already opposed to amnesty realize what it's likely to cost them.
Listen here where Robert Rector says this amnesty will kill Social Security---->>>
http://marklevinfan.freepgs.com/Audio/RobertRector.wma
Listen here. Will come up in Windows media player. Can also download by "save target as"
http://marklevinfan.freepgs.com/Audio/RobertRector.wma
The illegals are already onto the earned income credit... they're filling out tax returns and getting 10% of their "earned" income back...
Thanks for posting this one, a dire warning. Will it be ignored by elected members of Congress?
The large middle class is the strength and genius of the US. If it is destroyed, there are many countries around the world that we can look to to see the future.
For such a powerful lobbying group, I haven’t heard a word about what the AARP has to say.
Whatever the dems wan't them to say.
Tell me about it! My side job (bodyguarding executives, VIPs, etc..) is taking off like a rocket and will soon be my main gig at the rate it’s going. These people can easily afford the $200 per hour/per bodyguard, plus expenses.
Cheap labor is expensive.
What cheap labor? An illegal can walk onto a jobsite at almost any construction and get wages equal to anyone else, including benefits. There's no cheap labor involved. Southern California's coming to a city near you. Get ready for it.
Isn't it odd how the MSM misses this type of story?
Social Security is already dead. As soon as me and the rest of generation X take over, it’s the first thing we’re killing.
Boomers are (largely) idiots with little/no financial foresight.
Don’t expect us to pick up your baggage (or visit you in the nursing home.)
I don't know about that, but Medicaid will not survive two years after this bill passes, which may have been Kennedy's plan all along.
To have a socialist government, you need a proletariat. Our economy has been very poor at generating a lower class - so, we import one. Le voilà ! Instant proles!
The AARP is a liberal group - they don't care if the illegals bankrupt the social security system -- they'll sell memberships and insurance to citizens and illegals alike. No skin off their nose.
Who the hell is asking you to pick up our baggage?
I never wanted any part of Social Security, right from the first time the stinkin’ government forced me into a retirement program and took my money without my permission or consent.
Social Security is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme.
The World War II generation is on the good side of this pyramid scheme, the baby boomers are on the bad side.
On another note, I resent having a government mandated tracking number that allows both government and business
to track me and my life. It pisses me off to no end.
“Boomers are (largely) idiots with little/no financial foresight.
Don’t expect us to pick up your baggage (or visit you in the nursing home.)”
Many of us baby boomers worked very hard to give our children opportunities that we never had. If your point of view is the fruit of our labor then yes we did fail miserably.
What, they can't get SS in Mexico? You mean all those retirees in Belize aren't getting their SS checks?
Thanks to the Globalist New World Order proponents and enablers like the Bushes, Pelosi, Kennedy, Clinton's and gang, our great experiment will have failed.
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