The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) recently produced a study which estimated that illegal aliens contribute $97 billion annually in taxes to local, state, and federal coffers. Illegal alien advocates immediately seized on this information. One was former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich who declared: “Remember this the next time the undocumented [i.e., illegals] are called ‘freeloaders.’ ”
But we can’t say that tax contributions by illegals provide a fiscal advantage, notes Jason Richwine of the Center for Immigration Studies, without reference to the benefits they receive. He points out that annually they get about $42 million in various types of public assistance. Also, it costs $68 billion each year to educate their children.
These two expenditures alone considerably exceed the ITEP’s estimate of taxes illegal aliens pay. Yet, as Richwine points out, these are not the only fiscal liabilities they impose on society. He cites the findings of the 2016 National Academies report to show that illegal immigrants, on average during their lifetimes, use $68,000 more in benefits than they contribute in taxes.
Read more at cis.org