New York—The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a new study showing the massive tax contributions of undocumented immigrants nationally and in New York State. Like all people living and working in the United States, undocumented immigrants pay sales, excise, property, income and payroll taxes. This in-depth study analyzed the tax contributions – which help fund our public infrastructure, institutions, and services – of the 10.9 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. in 2022.
FACT: Undocumented immigrant New Yorkers contribute over $3 billion in taxes.
- Undocumented immigrant New Yorkers pay $3.1 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.
- There are 676,000 undocumented immigrants working in and contributing to New York State’s economy.
- Most (55%) of undocumented immigrant New Yorkers have been in the U.S. for more than 10 years.
- Despite paying into Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance, they are not able to access those benefits.
FACT: Granting work authorizations would increase the tax contributions of New York undocumented immigrants to nearly $4 billion.
- If work authorization was granted to the entire population working in New York State, their wages would increase and barriers to complying with tax laws would lessen.
- This would increase the annual tax contributions by $850.8 million, to a total of $3.9 billion.
FACT: Undocumented immigrants contribute nearly $100 billion in taxes nationally.
- Undocumented immigrants pay $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.
- This amounts to $8,889 in annual tax contributions per person.
- The annual tax contributions of undocumented immigrants surpass the total combined State budgets of Delaware, South Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Idaho, Maine, Oklahoma, Alaska, Iowa, Wyoming, Nebraska and Rhode Island.
FACT: Undocumented immigrants make up a larger section of the workforce nationally than the native-born population.
- Undocumented immigrants make up 4.7% of the workforce, despite making up only 3.4% of the total American population.
