May 4, 2017. This article discusses how immigrant youth, protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), are often perceived as not paying taxes, when they do. In order to make this argument, they cite FPI and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s co-released report on DACA recipients tax contributions. FPI’s David Dyssegaard Kallick also argues that their tax contributions are often overlooked. The article also argues that DACA recipients hope that their tax contributions will help them when they apply for permanent legal status.
“Their contributions are very substantial. They’re a big part of the promise for the future,” said David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute Research Institute and co-author of the study. Kallick added, “I think it’s not recognized enough that what they’re doing is, in fact, making a real contribution.”
The study, which was co-conducted by the Institute of Taxation and Economic policy, shows that the 1.3 million young people who are eligible for DACA (not all have applied), paid more than $2 billion nationally in state and local taxes in 2015.
In 2015, according to Fiscal Policy Institute Research Institute, America’s undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $11.7 billion in state and local taxes across the 50 states.
Here is the link to Voice of America.