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Comment by DanBC | Hacker News Reader

Undocumented workers still pay tax.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_illegal_imm...

> The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a report in February 2016, stating that 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are paying annually an estimated amount of $11.64 billion in state and local taxes, "on average an estimated 8 percent of their incomes."[25]

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Yes, they pay sales tax. Not income or FICA.

A significant number of undocumented workers use a fake SSN for their job so they do pay income taxes and FICA - but can never claim tax refunds, earned income credit, or their social security credits - http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/oct/02/...

Fair enough, but the parent was quoting their total payment (not just payroll) as 8% of their income, which is still an extreme underpayment, and equivalent to the case where they are only paying sales taxes.

That doesn't mean "yup, close the border", but we should still be careful about distinguishing the issues: yes, immigration may be below the optimal level, but it doesn't follow that illegal immigration is unproblematic in this respect.

I was under the impression it can be a massive pain if an illegal immigrant pays taxes with your stolen SSN?

isn't it a felony to use a stolen SSN? there is no such thing as a fake SSN.

I've known people who had been in the US as undocumented workers. When they were, they paid state and federal income and payroll tax, and, as a bonus, had no expectation of ever being able to use the programs funded by payroll tax.

That can't be right. According to the Wall Street Journal [1] there is a total of 11 million illegal immigrants in the US as a whole.

[1] - http://www.wsj.com/articles/number-of-illegal-immigrants-in-...

Estimates range from 11 to 16 million illegal immigrants, though a few years ago the highest one was at 20 million.

So you're really telling me on the high end 100% of illegal immigrants pay taxes and on the low end 68% do?

Pretty much, yes. It's a lot harder to avoid the IRS than Immigration Services, and AFAIK the IRS doesn't give a shit as long as you pay your taxes.

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