Undocumented workers pay into Medicaid, Social Security but won't be able to collect.

[Better Believe It]

Do immigrants receive more tax money than they give?
Undocumented workers pay into Medicaid, Social Security but won't be able to collect.
By Steven Oberbeck
The Salt Lake Tribune
January 1, 2010

While some also contend undocumented immigrants are hurting Utah’s economy because they do not pay taxes, Maloney said anyone who makes that assertion is wrong.

For the most part, undocumented workers pay the same state and federal taxes as all wage earners, he said. “They pay sales taxes like everyone else. They pay property taxes either implicitly or through their monthly rent.”

Even if they work under some sort of false identification, undocumented immigrants still contribute to Social Security and Medicare despite being ineligible to collect any benefits from those programs.

In 2007, the chief actuary for the Social Security Administration estimated undocumented immigrants contributed about $12 billion to the trust fund that year — money they will be unable to collect unless they become legal residents.

“Our projections suggest that the presence of unauthorized immigrant workers in the United States has, on the average, a positive effect on the financial status of the Social Security program,” Stephen C. Goss, the SSA’s chief actuary wrote.

Economist Ray Perryman of the Perryman Group in Waco, Texas, has studied the impact of undocumented workers on Utah and other state economies. He concluded that undocumented workers pay far more in overall taxes than they receive in benefits.

Read the full article at:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50881102-76/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-workers.html.csp#