Photo credit: Institute on Taxation
According to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in 2022, immigrants without legal authorization to work paid $3.1 billion in state and local taxes in New York.
Gothamist reports that the amount includes sales, property, and income taxes for an estimated 676,000 immigrant New Yorkers without citizenship or legal residency status. If the workers had work permits, their taxes would have risen to about $4 billion.
Home to the fourth largest concentration of undocumented migrants in the country, New York is behind California, Florida and Texas, according to the report.
However, the group does not include asylum seekers.
The results counter familiar fables about migrants not paying taxes and underscore the link between the country’s immigration policies and government tax coffers. They also highlight immigration labourers’ economic contributions as national polls show waning support for immigration.
