In California, activists are pushing for a law that would end all state benefits to illegal immigrants and their children (regardless of whether the child was born in the United States, which would by law make it a U.S. citizen, or not).  The article link is here:  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-illegal-immigration13-2009jul13,0,4982035.story?page=1

Two passages from this article struck me.  The first is this one:  "Most illegal residents contribute to the state through taxes and labor, but research indicates that the costs to state and local governments outweigh the additional tax revenue, at least in the short term."

Ok, so contrary to popular myth, most illegal immigrants do pay taxes.  To establish that, let's link in some additional article to verify that indeed, the majority of illegals do pay taxes to a nation that doesn't recognize them as legal residents.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-10-immigrantstaxes_N.htm

"Illegal immigrants are paying taxes to Uncle Sam, experts agree. Just how much they pay is hard to determine because the federal government doesn't fully tally it. But the latest figures available indicate it will amount to billions of dollars in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes this year. One rough estimate puts the amount of Social Security taxes alone at around $9 billion per year."

"The Internal Revenue Service doesn't track a worker's immigration status, yet many illegal immigrants fearful of deportation won't risk the government attention that will come from filing a return even if they might qualify for a refund. Economist William Ford of Middle Tennessee State University says there are no firm figures on how many such taxpayers there are.

"The real question is how many of them pay more than they owe. There are undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of people in that situation," Ford said"

So, based on quotes from this article (which is everything between the link and this paragraph), many illegals fail to file a return (not the same as not paying taxes, since those often come out of a paycheck automatically) because they're afraid of being deported.  And the majority that do this are costing the government less money because they would make little enough that they'd be eligible for a refund.  So in that regard, many illegals are overtaxed.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/04/AR2006060400965_pf.html


"The controversy over immigrants and taxes generally centers on illegal immigrants. Reliable numbers are hard to find, but researchers generally agree that 50 to 60 percent of illegal immigrants nationwide work for employers who withhold income taxes and Social Security and Medicare payments from their paychecks. The authors of the Urban Institute study assumed 55 percent do. To get jobs, many of those immigrants use false Social Security numbers. That means they pay into the Social Security system for benefits they will never receive and pay income taxes without ever filing a return to determine whether they have overpaid."

"Overall, area immigrants pay nearly one-third of their income to the government -- at least $10 billion a year -- but those here illegally pay less than $1 of every $5 they earn in taxes, the report says. That is partly because they earn less but also because many are paid off the books and escape payroll taxes."


The quotes from the above article establish that many illegals pay taxes for services they will never receive (such as social security) and also that they won't file a tax return (which would make them eligible for tax refunds in many or most cases).  While many of them are paid under the table, that's as much an issue with the business as it is the illegal immigrant, and it's probably one that happens with many legal residents (mostly teens) working on a farm during the summer.  It's an inescapable issue however, there are some (possibly 40%)  illegals that manage to dodge the income tax.  That doesn't mean that they don't pay taxes, as there are taxes on sales, car registration, property value, and many other things.

Another interesting point from the article is that some experts believe that illegals shouldn't be given a path to citizenship because even though it would increase the input to the tax system (and get more of them to pay taxes), it would also make them eligible for social security, medicare, medicaid (which the illegals aren't currently eligible for), and would encourage more of them to file tax returns (which would result in more government refunds).  In other words, while more money would flow in, more would flow out as well.


Anways, another thing from the original article (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-illegal-immigration13-2009jul13,0,4982035.story?page=1) is this quote:

"The measure would also cut off CalWorks payments to the children of citizens or legal residents who fail to meet eligibility requirements for state aid because they are unwilling to work, addicted to drugs or absent, among other reasons."

So the bill these anti-illegal people are advocating for would also cut off payments to the children of many legal residents (including citizens) who fail to meet eligibility requirements for state aid.  That many any children of people who are too lazy to work, addicted to crack, or absent on a consistent basis won't get any help from the state.  Is it right to punish the child for the transgressions of their parents?  Or perhaps a more complicated question is this one:  If their parents aren't eligible for state aid, they certainly don't sound like good parents.  Is there a way that the state can take their kids away for neglect or whatever?  Or if there is already a way, then why do they still have kids?

In any case, it's something else that the residents of California need to be aware of.