I think that illegal immigrants do pay taxes like every other U.S. citizen. When I go to the store they don't ask me if I'm a illegal immigrant. So this means that illegal immigrants DO pay taxes. Some of them don't even have children, and that taxes go to the education of americans Children. And then illegal immigrants don't get their taxes return because they don't have a social security. Where does that money goes if they don't get it back?there are millions of illegal immigrants. come on! not All of them get paid by cash.So they do pay taxes. Why do many people say they don't?Isn't there also american who get paid by cash?
204881
Well it is a small percentage of these people that get paid cash. They use forged social security cards and then get a check and get taxes and social security taken out and they never see any of that. As for property taxes, they do pay since i know personally people that do not have a green card that own houses and pay property tax so don't believe those people who generalize and do not know the facts to say illegals don't pay taxes.\nHow about all those American born people that get paid under the table and don't report that income? Is just an argument xenophobes use against immigrants.
336469
The question was asked incorrectly.  What American citizens have against undocumented illegals is that we work and pay taxes, they don't.  We are already supporting our countries' homeless and welfare people and now we have to take care of the illegals also?  They want the same benefits that others get then all we ask is that they follow the same rules and laws that we as Americans follow.  Become a US Citizen, pay taxes, work, what is so hard about that.  Go back to the 40s, the people from Ellis Island were documented, worked and helped to make this country what it is today.
627240
Amen Amen, you are so right....America tends to forget about its own.....I have known families of illegals drawing benifits that should have gone to our people here.  Yet my husband has to pay taxes every week out of his check like all the rest of us legal americans do...yet they work, draw a check and no taxes are held out.  I feel sorry for all the other countries but good god we need help here to.
217791
Has JD ever had an original thought?  War, invasion - typical scare tactics that too many ignorant citizens choose to worship.  You act as if you earned your citizenship.  It is just a matter of luck that you were born in this country.  You are not special and you have never done anything spacial, just dumb luck.  What is a bigger drain on society a population that works but can't pay taxes because their oppressors choose to look the other way or citizens who sit on their butts and collect TANF (welfare) and don't pay a penny in taxes?  Guess which ethnicity makes up the highest percent of the total welfare recipients.  Let's just say "illegal" immigrants can't receive welfare.
545796
Illegal aliens can get welfare by applying for welfare with false/stolen id. Another way is if they have children who are US citizens, they can get welfare through them.\n\nAs a taxpayer, you pay taxes for things such as hospitals and schools. The taxes you pay should be used for healthcare and education of US citizens. Not of illegal aliens. But since hospitals are not allowed to refuse people emergency care and no one checks legal status when kids enroll in school, we have to pay for it.
316288
i don't care what anybody f**kin says. i work just as hard as those damn mexicans. i work for very little money. i do not collect welfare and i do pay TAXES. my taxes go up every year to pay for those f**kin illegal immigrants and i am sick of it. you people that want them here should pay for them and leave my money alone so i can raise my family(no welfare did not pay for me to have my children... my husband and i did.) you can pay for their medical benefits and their 100's of children. i say we need to tie a cinder block around their ankles and throw them back into the water that they swam across to get here ILLEGALLY. they can work for alot less than i can because they do not have to pay taxes or pay for their food and medical expenses. i am paying for them. i say get the f**k out.
556160
I have wondered this same thing many times.  The illegal immigrant supporters always say these things, "Well, there are lots of American citizens on welfare!" and " American citizens break laws, too." and "Lots of American citizens are in jail."  "Sometimes American citizens steal SSNs."  "Sometimes American citizens drive without licenses or insurance."  What these questioners don't seem able to grasp is that, yes, we have bad American citizens, too, but the big difference is that they are AMERICAN citizens, meaning they ARE our problem and so we have to deal with them with our systems and our tax dollars.  However, illegal immigrants are NOT our legal problems - they are legal residents of their own home countries and only those countries should have to deal with them and their problems.  We should not have to pay for illegal immigrants' children attending our tax-paid schools, and we should not have to pay for their medical care when they go to the ERs of our hospitals.  They should not even be here and every time they are discovered via arriving at ERs, applying for social services, registering their children in schools, applying for jobs, etc., they should be immediately arrested and they and their families who are also illegally in the USA should be deported immediately, no questions asked and no consideration, whatsoever.
632876
They should all go back with their children in tow! If you aren't here legally when you have your kid, it should NOT become a citizen.\n\nNo one else is allowed to legally profit from their illegal activities. For example, when they bust a drug dealer, they take everything he owns whether or not they can prove that it was bought with drug profits. Criminals can not write books or do interviews about their crime for money.\n\nSo, why is it that someone who is in this country ILLEGALLY can have a kid and then leech off of the taxpayers' wallets indefinitely through welfare and other social programs? They are benefiting from their crime when they should be made to pay!\n\nIf I make less money than you, and I just want a better life, can I come and live in your home without your permission? I'll have my baby, and you'll be responsible for its welfare as well as mine. Also, your taxes will go up to cover the costs of schooling my baby (and the dozen more that I'll have). Does that sound fair to you? Who is really being mean - the people who work hard for what they have, or those who steal from the working people?
189585
I think the US laws need to change... drastically if they want to start making things right.... in one way or another the goverment gets money from all those illegal immigrants that pay taxes every year ... but what about the rest.. some just get the money... wait till they have enought and leave without paying anything..leaving all the us citizens to pay it... how do u find those people once they left????.. that's my question...
522629
You must be young. They do not pay taxes, they use our hospital emergency rooms as primary care at taxpayers expense, they get many social services that we would not get so easily and their children flood our classrooms with no knowledge of English, so they are in special ed. classes at our expense also. They live, many of them, in houses {most likely not owned by them} with little amenities, some of them 20 or more to a house, depleting the value of the homes of their neighbors. I don't have a problem with immigrants that come here legally, and contribute back to the economy. But they don't do that. They are here illegally, and are still afforded the privileges of Americans. No matter how you look at it, the word ILLEGAL, no matter what word it precedes, means ILLEGAL.
477609
What?!? And all these years I've been paying. . .\nNo, we are absolutely required to pay income taxes! We actually OVER-pay each year, and then in the Spring we get a partial refund. That's always nice, to help cover any credit card purchases we may have made at Christmas, or to do a home improvement project. But many Americans end up having to pay in even more, because not enough has been deducted from their wages throughout the previous year. OUCH!
158130
The people that are complaining don't pay there taxes now. That has always been the problem. If you went in and really studied the tax system, you will find that these people are always working a scam. Tax abatement's, tax shelters, or don't pay their taxes period. They would rather get lawyer to fight the IRS then just pay their fair share, and there are millions of these people. So when somebody says to you I don't want to pay for you, they aren't paying their share in the first place, and that's not American.
469626
Good point.  I know of many cases where people have worked the heck out of illegal aliens for days and when pay day comes they report them to the cops or immigration to avoid paying them.  The employer is usually someone that hires them for handyman work and it never involves major companies.  Bottom line is that the illegal alien usually get returned to their country.  Also this mostly occurs in border communities.
304409
I think you hit the nail on the head. Some contribute to the economy; some don't. You can say the same for legal immigrants. Ditto for American citizens. More often than not, illegals contribute in some ways (by doing hard work cheaply and paying sales taxes on goods purchsed in the U.S.) and are a drain on the economy in other ways (given that their children sometimes require additional assistance in school if they're not fully bilingual). Most of them work harder than the average American does and do NOT expect or request welfare. (They are afraid of leaving a "paper trail" and hence many do not want to apply for such benefits.) But whatever the case, we should remember that our forefathers were all immigrants, legal or illegal, at one point in time.\n\nWe definitely need immigration reform, and I don't think anyone who has entered the country illegally should get automatic amnesty. On the other hand, labeling those who entered the country illegally but who have become a vital part of our society as "criminals" is pointless. We could label anyone who's ever gone over the speed limit as a "criminal", too, but that doesn't help you get a grip on excess speeding. All the jerks that run around acting superior and accusing law-abiding hard-working people who entered the country illegal of being criminals are simply ignorant, selfish, xenophobic bigots.
169186
Americans are willing to do the jobs that illegals do! When I was in high school I picked oranges in the summer and worked in packing houses, and so did a lot of my friends.  The difference is illegals work for next to nothing, something that Americans can't do.  The next time you say that they do the jobs that we are too lazy to do, please think about all the hardworking Americans that won't be able to earn a decent wage, pay taxes, and support our economy because an Illegal is  working for twenty-five cents an hour.  Those same taxes that their employers aren't paying are being paid by the rest of us, and when an illegal gets hurt on the job he or she isn't going to be denied emergency health care.  This ultimately causes the rest of us honest tax payers to cover that burden.  Thinking that illegals are necessary for our economy to function doesn't make any sense, the ONLY people it helps are the law breaking businesses who hire them.  Isn't it funny how liberals who are normally incredibly anti-big business are all for cheap illegal labor?
597745
Illegal immigrants make up a huge chunk of the base of the work force, pay taxes (both on their pay and in sales taxes, etc), keep money moving around the system just like anyone who lives here (by buying groceries, gas, clothes, etc), and actually receive less in social services than legal immigrants because they're not able to get many social services without paperwork (despite what certain right-wing lies you might hear).
184287
I agree with some, but not all of your thoughts...\n\n1) when they come here and work, they are paying taxes - it gets taken out of their paychecks. So does Social Security. \n2) when they go to the store here, they pay taxes, just like you and I. Same thing at the gas pumps, liquor stores, mall, etc. Its not like they come here, work and take the money to Mexico to go grocery shopping. So, they are contributing to the economy - more so than rich folks in America that hide all their money so they DONT have to pay taxes. \n3) they are humans...they have HUMAN RIGHTS. \n\nLast study I read said that Illegals contriubute $90 BILLION dollars to Social Security a year, and only receive $5 BILLION in outside aide. That leaves $85 BILLION to the rest of us. Im also willing to bet that there are more African Americans in our prison system than illegal immigrants - so they are obviously following our laws, despite having "jumped a border." At least they arent killing each other over gang territory or robbing their own people or getting over on charities like wwhats been going on with all the Katrina aide...\n\nNow that I think about it, I dont agree at all with you!