Last year, the Senate passed the bipartisan Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, or S. 744, which the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, found would have significant fiscal and economic benefits for the nation. Yet since its passage, the House of Representatives has dragged its feet and failed to act on meaningful reform. This inaction means that the United States has already missed out on billions of dollars in potential tax revenues.
As millions of Americans file their taxes today, it’s important to remember that our broken immigration system diminishes our potential tax revenue. The following are the top five reasons why immigration reform would increase tax revenues:
- 5 million more workers and their employers would pay payroll taxes.
- Unauthorized immigrants would pay an additional $109 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.
- Reform would add a net $606 billion to the Social Security trust fund.
- Reform would extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund by four years.
- Reform would reduce the deficit by $820 billion over the next two decades.
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