Proposed IRS data sharing with immigration authorities and ICE raids have made filing risky for those who are undocumented
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown could cause the US to potentially lose up to $479bn in lost tax revenue over the the next 10 years, with enforcement deterring undocumented workers from filing their taxes this year, according to tax experts.
Tax advisers say major changes, including proposed data sharing with immigration enforcement, have made filing taxes risky for undocumented immigrants. Tax benefits for immigrant parents have also been removed, further removing incentive to file taxes at all.
Experts believe that a drop in tax filings could cost the federal government billions of dollars in lost revenue. According to Yale’s Budget Lab, the losses could range from $147bn to $479bn over the next 10 years. At the same time, up to 2.7 million children who are US citizens or lawful permanent residents might lose access to the credit due to these policy changes.
Not to mention state and local governments. One of the dirty little secrets of our economy is that undocumented workers have a significant direct and indirect tax burden, but other than schools (which are for literal children, lest we forget) they’re excluded from almost all benefits that require any sort of, well, documents.
So you’ve got a permanent underclass who are paying into the system but literally aren’t allowed to reap all the benefits. Now, on the one hand, I kind of get how that’s a devil’s bargain they were willing to make to get to the US from countries with more immediate issues, but to argue that they’re a drain on the country and need to be hunted down post-haste, and not treated as the human beings they are, that’s just evil on so many levels, but one of them is that it upends the economic deal America tacitly made with them by accepting their labor. They literally pay a huge tax to be in the country at all. Even the business owners used to understand that. I assume most of them still do, but none of them will pick this hill to die on.
Yeah no shit
Don’t worry the Democrats will get blamed for it after the next blue wave, then everyone will vote red again, repeating the cycle
It’s another way to tank social security. Immigrants pay those taxes and can’t collect on it.
One of our towns landscapers up and left. All his workers left too, I have to assume some were undocumented. The dude raked in anywhere from 1-2k a day and it was all taxed. That’s a lot of money and I’m sure he’s not the only one.
Although other landscapers realize it’s getting harder to find workers and have increased their rates so maybe it will even out.
