Deb216, forgive me but are you nuts??? You have fallen hook, line, and sinker for the myth that somehow illegal immigrants are the new source of tax wealth for our country!
How much do you believe illegal immigrants are making that they actually pay taxes?
I am definitely not nuts, thank you, and there are several things that affect my point of view on this issue, none of which are propaganda. I’ll try to break them down for you.
My husband is a foreman in the construction industry. The company has a strict policy of only hiring legal workers, and there is an established system of checks and balances. All applicants must have proof of identification and a valid social security number (SSN). All new hires are required to fill out an I-9 form, which is processed through Homeland Security.
Nevertheless, illegals do get hired. They use names that are associated with a valid SSN, and have virtually flawless ID’s. It can take months or years before the system is alerted and notifies the company because there are no immediate “red flags.”
Imagine 4 people using the same name, address, and SSN. One is legitimate, 3 are ghosts. As far as the system is concerned, one man works for 4 different companies, which is perfectly legal. There would only be a flag if one of them messed up.
When he is notified that an employee isn’t legal, my husband directs the guy to the office, where he will be discharged. He has known some of these guys for a long time without even suspecting that they were illegal. They are highly skilled workers who earn well above the minimum wage because they are paid according to the job that is done, not an hourly wage or salary.
Given the numbers that I have seen, based on actual checks that were paid to illegal immigrants, many of these men are paying hundreds of dollars in taxes per week. Multiply that times the number of months or years that it takes for the employee’s eligibility status to be discovered and you have a considerable amount of money.
Let’s say hubby does payroll for 100 employees per week–people who rotate in and out because of the nature of the trade. Let’s say that only one illegal immigrant is caught every month. Given the number of people he schedules that’s not many, but the company employs 25 foreman.
Now expand it. My numbers were based on a single division of one company that only operates in one area. They also only employ specific trades and they only do residential construction.
Then there are the illegal immigrants who work in regular labor positions. They earn less and pay less in taxes, but there are a lot more of them so they are harder to keep track of. Like skilled laborers, they use fake ID’s to get hired but they are more likely to use stolen or invented SSN. They get caught more often, but they are not married to their identity. If one name is flagged, they will simply be reborn the next day under a new name and number. Because their “work” name is not associated with their “real” name, it isn’t difficult.
I think that if you give serious consideration to the size and scope of the situation, you will see that, if anything, my numbers are are modest.
Do you know a family of 4 making $45,000 pays exactly 0 in taxes? The argument of paying “sales tax on all of their purchases” is weak. If they rent an apartment, there is no sales tax on probably 25% to 38% of their income. Groceries, another 25% of their income is largely untaxed. Also, there is no tax on the $45 Billion that they send home EVERY YEAR.
There is a flaw in your reasoning, and it is based on a false assumption. A family of 4 that earns $45,000 per annum may pay nothing in taxes, but that is based on overall tax liability. To say they paid no taxes is misleading. The taxes are paid throughout the year and then refunded.
The flaw is that that illegal immigrants do not file for tax returns, so the tax monies that are withheld do not get refunded. Ergo, the IRS keeps the money.
Why would they not file for a refund? Because people who want to keep their jobs avoid flagging the system. Multiple claims to the IRS for the same SSN would be a huge red flag, as would a claim that only includes one of many w-4’s. Taxes paid to a fake SSN wouldn’t get refunded, so there is no reason to submit a claim.
Somehow, the math doesn’t work. Either they they are making so much money that they are making a solid contribution to our tax base (thus, not in need) or they are too poor to provide for their needs and are unable to pay taxes.
What makes you assume that illegal immigrants are in need? The only thing many of them need is a change in status. Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.
I stand by what I said. Illegal immigrants pay billions of dollars into the system. To say otherwise is dishonest.
I’ll take an illegal family with values over an American family without values any day of the week…but I’m odd like that. The accident of birth is not high on my list of priorities. I prefer to judge people for who they are.
