Undocumented Workers Pay More Taxes Than GE

The sign being held in the above picture is rather humorous, but it is indicative of a larger truth -- that this country is benefitted rather than hurt by the undocumented immigrants that live and work in America (doing the dirtiest and most back-breaking jobs for the rest of us).

There are those on the right who believe that these immigrants do not pay into the government (for services that we receive but they are largely denied). That is simply not true. While they may not receive many services, they do pay a lot of taxes. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy has done a study which shows that the undocumented workers in this country pay taxes at all levels of government -- for an estimated total of about $11.2 billion in a single year.

Broken down by type of taxes, these workers pay about $1.2 billion in federal income taxes (and get none of it back because they can't legally file for it), $1.6 billion in property taxes, and $8.4 billion in sales taxes. That's a lot of money, especially at this time when most levels of government are struggling to find enough money to pay the bills. The state of New York alone receives $662.4 million in tax revenue from undocumented worker's families (and they are just fourth in this revenue -- with California, Texas, and Florida all receiving even more).

Now some of you may say that $1.2 billion in federal income taxes is not a lot when compared to the deficit being run by the government (and it certainly wouldn't begin to cover that deficit). But when compared to the taxes paid by some American corporations, it is a lot more. Consider General Electric (GE). GE made worldwide profits of $14.2 billion last year -- and $5.1 billion of that was made in the United States. They paid NOTHING in federal income taxes -- which is $1.2 billion less than undocumented workers paid.

But it gets even worse than that. GE not only didn't pay any taxes, but they received a rebate from the government of $3.2 billion. It sounds to me like GE has contributed more to the deficit and this country's economic woes that undocumented immigrants have.

But the immigrants have no political power, while GE has the money to hire lobbyists and pay off politicians -- and money can buy a lot of good will (and power) in a representative democracy. So the immigrants are demonized and corporations like GE (and there are far to many like GE) are portrayed as saviors of the economy. It seems to me that this view is backwards.