AUGUSTA, Maine – The economic benefits of undocumented immigrants in Maine and across the United States are being looked at in more detail by a new national study.
According to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented residents in Maine paid $15.6 million in state and local taxes in 2022. The Maine Center for Economic Policy said this. Based on the report, that amount would be $19.8 million if the taxpayers were allowed to work.
The study by ITEP shows that 31% of the taxes paid by illegal immigrants in Maine come from sales and excise taxes, 38% come from property taxes, and 28% come from personal or business income taxes.
“Maine should hire anyone who wants to work because the population is getting older and the job market is staying the same.” “This report gives numbers to something we’ve known for a long time: all immigrants, even those who aren’t here legally, help Maine’s economy and public finances,” said Garrett Martin, president and CEO of the Maine Center for Economic Policy.
The ITEP study found that in 2022, illegal immigrants paid a total of $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. Of this amount, $37.3 billion went to state and local governments. The study also says that letting all present undocumented immigrants get work permits would bring their tax payments up to $136.9 billion a year, which is an increase of $40.2 billion.
“This study is the most thorough look at how much tax money undocumented immigrants pay.” “It shows that they pay a lot—nearly $100 billion a year,” said Marco Guzman, a senior policy analyst at ITEP and co-author of the study. “At the end of the day, we all pay our taxes, no matter what our immigration status is.”
According to ITEP’s research, more than a third of the taxes paid by illegal immigrants go to payroll taxes. These taxes pay for programs like Social Security and Medicare that undocumented immigrants are not allowed to use.
The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) also said that rules that make it so undocumented immigrants have to pay more in income taxes than similarly situated U.S. citizens affect the taxes they pay. People who are in the country illegally, for example, often can’t get tax credits like the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit. But MECEP says that Maine is one of the places that has made these tax credits more open to immigrants in the last few years.
“The tax money that immigrants pay is good for everyone in Maine.” Martin said in his statement, “Giving all New Mainers the legal right to live and work here as soon as possible is one of the best ways to make sure employers have the workers they need and Maine has the money it needs to pay its bills.”
ITEP said that its study doesn’t try to measure the bigger effects that come from undocumented immigrants’ greater economic activity. It said that if those effects were taken into account, it would probably show that these people bring in even more money for the government.
MECEP has been around since 1994 and calls itself a nonpartisan research and policy group whose goal is to improve the economic well-being of Mainers with low and moderate incomes.
It says that ITEP is a neutral, non-profit tax policy group that has been around since 1980.
