Those who say undocumented immigrants only take and never give are proven wrong

Immigrants and immigration activists in Riverside may have heard about the new push to get a better path to citizenship opened for immigrants. When it comes to getting a green card, methods of obtaining it are still difficult to achieve, leading to some trying to open new paths themselves by shedding light on undocumented immigrants.

In order to measure the importance of immigrants to the current economy, some have decided that it would be important to highlight just how much in taxes immigrants are actually contributing every year. Many people leap immediately to the argument that immigrants, especially undocumented ones, gain the benefits of being a citizen without experiencing the downsides like having to pay taxes. However, it has been shown that this isn’t the case. In fact, about $1.24 billion were paid by immigrants in taxes in 2010 alone.

In addition to that, immigrants also pay sales taxes on daily items such as gas or food. In sales taxes, it was estimated that immigrants have paid roughly $9.4 billion. Property taxes also factor into that, which most immigrants pay. The number of undocumented immigrants that pay even their federal income taxes is reported to be over 50%. Many people believe that allowing these immigrants to become citizens more quickly would effectively increase their ability to pay taxes, thus fueling the economy further.

While these are all good points being made, there is still delay in the government in regard to opening up a better path to citizenship for immigrants. Because of this, anyone who wishes to gain their citizenship may wish to contact an immigration attorney.

Source: Causa, “Undocumented Immigrants Contribute Billions in Taxes,” Amy Grenier, Apr. 15, 2014