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Comment by UnoriginalGuy | Hacker News Reader

> More precisely it is taxation by citizenship, not residence.

Both. Non-citizens (inc. illegal immigrants) are required to pay US taxes just for residing in the United States. The US will actually give non-citizens a unique tax ID (TIN) for this express purpose.

So the US will tax both based on residential status AND citizenship status.

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You can also get an ITIN for non resident aliens, as I found out when I married my wife abroad and needed to put her on my taxes so I could "married filing jointly" and not get screwed on taxes. In at case, the US is effectively taxing a non-resident non-citizen, which is another level of bizarre (but the foreign tax deduction makes it OK in the end).

To paraphrase: "Illegal immigrants to the US are required to pay US taxes"

That's... Slightly insane?

You are also required to pay taxes on profits from illegal activity. Breaking one law doesn't exempt you from following another.

Well, if an illegal immigrant files taxes, then they're registered in the system and will be thrown out, right? If you're illegally in a country you presumably have to stay hidden in order to not be thrown out, and if you pay taxes you're not hidden anymore.

No. The There are laws against the IRS reporting illegal income to other agencies. If you pay your taxes, the IRS has no problem with you, and any violation you have with another agency is not their problem.

Yes, and you can make the same argument about having to pay taxes on illegal activity and it basically being self-incrimination, an actual constitution right (which staying here illegally is not). The courts have considered the argument and they don't agree.

They don't really deport people that way, though. It could certainly happen in the future, but currently they're focusing on criminals and suspected gang members for deportation.

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