Friday, December 08, 2006

Comptroller: Undocumented immigrants pay more Texas taxes than they get in services

Via Migra Matters, the Texas Comptroller's office has just released a report estimating costs and revenues (pdf) to the state from undocumented immigrants. Bottom line: Immigrants pay more state taxes than they receive in state services:
The Comptroller’s office estimates the absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our Gross State Product of $17.7 billion. Also, the Comptroller’s office estimates that state revenues collected from undocumented immigrants exceed what the state spent on services, with the difference being $424.7 million.
That's a big chunk of change. Costs are higher for local governments, says the report, but it's hard to discount that large an impact on the state economy.

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