In favor of "RAISING TAXES" to end Illegal immigration?
470660
OK,I have been called alot of names for this but here I go ....\nThere are 12 million illegal immigrants in this country RIGHT NOW.If they all became LEGAL right now that means:\nThey for sure would be paying taxes.(imagine how much 12 million ppl would contrbute)\nThey would have to be paid decent wages(thus not lowering wages).\nThey would no longer be ILLEGAL.(tired of hearing that one,how are ppl illegal).\nThey would be documented,with health screens,finger prints,background checks.\nThey could no longer be exploited.\nI know I am forgetting some things,but I think this is the only solution(here come the insults).I don't agree with breaking apart families,or sending ppl away that have been productive members if this society for decades."Illegal" immigration has been going on for a long time and only now it is a country wide issue.And I don't think all those ppl should be deported because some ppl want to label them as "illegal" or because they are stigmatized.\nAnd I also think the border should be better looked after.I love my ppl, but damn.
341286
Not for long - the increased taxes would quickly slow the economy down and you'd either have to keep increasing taxes (screwing the economy), or cut the tax (defeating the purpose).
1019649
It may sound cruel but all benefits must be stopped to the illegals. Period. That goes for the children they have too. If we can get the guts to deny them it is possible they will leave. I think I read where Texas is sending a bill to Mexico for services to the illegals.  That is a great idea.  Hold Mexican assets and take the cost of services to their citizens. Mexico would then do something about the boarder.
725659
your right. i don't think Americans should stand in line to any illegal. this is are country. maybe every American should start working under the table, don't pay taxes. and watch everything go down hill.
521138
I am fed up with illegal Mexicans up to my eyeballs.  They rip off the public school system without paying and you cannot tell me that when they work for cash  with no SSN at the end of the day they are going to ever bother filing a tax return.\n\nThe great irony here is that if these stupid idiots became legal and filed a legitimate tax return, if they had a fairly large family (3 kids or so) they could not only still pay no taxes but get a windfall payment for earned income and child tax credits for as much as $3,000 - $4,000 a year.  So the dumb suckers are screwing themselves, mainly, which is fine with me.  If a million illegals got $3,000 each at tax time that would be an additional $3 BILLION from the pockets of other taxpayers.\n\n\nWoop de doo.  Send em back anyway, we don't need em; they are parasites in the system.
202564
You have a good point there.  Yes, a flat tax would definitely be the best.  That way more people would be encouraged to start businesses, or expand their existing businesses, thus creating more jobs for everybody.\nThe current tax system is "supposed" to make the income more equal to everybody, when in fact it's the middle class that pays the most taxes - not the welfare people, 'cause they don't earn money, and not the business owners (which would be considered rich), 'cause of the write-offs allowed.  The people in favor of the progressive income tax are shooting themselves in the foot, and don't realize it.
945226
Yes, but even that won't work.  Demand for their services is too great.  I suspect the government will be as effective stopping illegal immigration as they are stopping drug smuggling.
106491
Raises taxes or lowers taxes.
830654
I'm sure they do want a better life ... if I had t he choice between an American and a Mexican prison, I know which one I'd choose .... \n\nAnd heck, I want a better life too .. .maybe I should stop paying taxes and health insurance ... why not?  If it's OK to break immigration laws, why isn't it OK to break tax laws?  Both a federal laws, right?
396429
You do make some interesting suggestions. The problem I have is rewarding lawbreakers. I always learned growing up that there would be no rewards for me if I broke the rules. Why don't other people understand these principles, let alone live by them. I agree 100% that Western Union and other businesses of that sort should have a 10% tax. FABULOUS IDEA! Why don't you run for congress? If you're from my area, I'll vote for you. Someone else suggested billing Mexico for any services their  citizens receive...how would you enforce that? It would never happen...how about if every year with our tax return, we get a voucher from the Mexican government for a free two week all expenses paid vacation in Cabo! Not too realistic is it? The true problem here is that IF "our" government wanted to have no illegal immigration, we would have none. This whole Immigration Reform Bill fiasco is B.S. We already have laws that are not even enforced that deal with this problem. And IF they did pass one of the bills currently being discussed, they wouldn't enforce it anyway. So, all of this fighting and marching is all for NOTHING!
463627
It's getting out of hand. We should stop this nonsense and send the illegals home.\n\n\nFrom the L.A Times\n\n1. 40% of all workers in L.A. County (L.A. County has 10 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card. \n\n2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.\nhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040119-082933-4484r.htm\n\n3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.\n\n4. Over 2/3's of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers. \n\n5. Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.\n\n6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.\n\n7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border. \n\n8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.\n\n9. 21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking.\n\n10. In L.A.County 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak Spanish (10.2 million people in L.A.County).\n\n(All 10 from the Los Angeles Times)\n\n\nLess than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops but 29% are on welfare.\nhttp://www.cis.org\n\n\nOver 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration.\n\n\nThe cost of immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 BILLION a year, [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University]. \n\n29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.
749297
They raise taxes because they won't deal with the spending. \nBefore raising taxes they should first cut programs. This country and the states can't keep giving way to the poor, they can't keep having high out of control immigrants to add to a already problem that is only going to continue. \n\nOnce you give someone a benefit it is hell trying to stop it. That is just human nature. So until they rain in spending, I'm not holding by breath they will or can, taxes will continue to raise until there is no more that can be taken from the middle class. Which is not to far in the future. \nRemember the wealthy will never let poor come into power to tax them. That you can bet on.
956941
It's an extremely complicated issue, and I don't think you're going to find a good solution asking here.\n\nHere's an idea, though that sounds good but still probably won't work.\n\nRaise the minimum wage more and enact harsher penalties on anyone hiring illegal immigrants. Simple, but effective. After all, extending the fence all the way could cost billions of dollars.
884211
I wouldn't call your suggestion the solve all but I would call it a start.  Taking jobs away from American workers simply because they can accept a lower wage is no path to citizenship in my book either.  Fighting for a legitamate cause through our military would do much more towards gaining my resolve, yet joining our armed forces under Bush seems more like a death wish to anyone including illegals rather than a statement of loyalty.  What we need is an enforcement of existing laws and prosecutions derived therein in order to curb the existing illegal subterfuge that persists to this day.  Stay tuned..
871826
What an informative article...but I am already against illegals in our country so this only reinforces not changes my stance.\n\nthanks!
585953
Sure it sounds, great that's what are taxes are go for right? But in today society it would not be politically correct. We are a F@#$#$ up country with way to many loop holes. We first have to start filling up all the holes. Start by not allowing babies being born here granted citizenship.
443215
CURLIES_10-You Need To Learn The Underlying Issues Before You Become A Taxpayer(Im Assuming Youre A Student Living With Your Parents)\n\nFREEDOMHAMMER Makes The Point Best-It Is GREEDY Unscrupulous EMPLOYERS That ENABLE This Problem And Have Compounded It To This Point\n\nThere are jobs Americans simply won't do, so that the importation of foreigners is essential. Whether these foreign workers are ILLEGAL ALIENS,  guestworkers, or permanent Legal Immigrants is a detail to be worked out by us, the argument goes, but our need for them is unchanged.Even many opponents of the proposed Bush Amnesty assume this to be true, leading them to propose new and improved guestworker programs, with provisions for stricter controls against Permanent Settlement, greater incentives to return, tighter enforcement against Unscrupulous Employers, etc. As well-meaning as such efforts may be, the basic assumption is false — \n\nThere is simply no economic reason to import FOREIGN Workers.If the supply of FOREIGN Workers were to dry up (say, through actually ENFORCING the immigration law, for starters), employers would respond to this new, tighter, labor market in two ways. \n\n1: One, they would offer HIGHER Wages, INCREASED Benefits, and Improved Working Conditions, so as to recruit and retain people from the remaining pool of workers.\n\n2:At the same time, the same employers would look for ways to eliminate some of the jobs they now are having trouble filling. The result would be a NEW Equilibrium, with Blue-Collar Workers making somewhat Better Money, but each one of those workers being more productive.\n\nMany people fear the first part of such a response, claiming that prices for fruits and vegetables would skyrocket, fueling inflation..NOT TRUE..Labor accounts for only about ten percent of the retail price of a head of lettuce,  so even doubling the wages of pickers would have little noticeable effect on consumers.\n\nSeveral people told me they used to do the "jobs Americans won't do" until local employers figured out they could get ILLEGAL Aliens to work for less than half the same amount. As an example, a young landscaper who used to make $15 an hour 10 years ago, can't get a similar job now for more than $8 an hour. Same heat. Same difficult working conditions.  But with the Depressed Wage, AMERICANS – who live in a country where the cost of living is miles above that of Mexico's – can't afford to take such jobs.It's not that he and other Americans don't want to do landscaping anymore; it's just that in heavily trafficked ILLEGAL Alien environments, IT DOESNT PAY WELL ENOUGH ANYMORE.\n\n Younger U.S.-born high school graduates are squeezed at both ends. Jobs that would have gone to them in the past are now being grabbed by college graduates. The lowest-wage jobs are unappealing, and employers will not raise wages as long as ILLEGAL Immigrants will take them.\n\nIf this is what the open borders crowd means by ILLEGAL ALIENS doing jobs Americans don't want, they're right. American workers want jobs that can Earn them a DECENT LIVING in this country. Minimum wage is a fortune south of the border, but it doesn't go far here. \n\n\nthis is to illustrate the absurdity of a "comprehensive" approach to ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS , and the more radical of the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT  advocates who are proponents of an "open borders" policy. We don't take a comprehensive, humane approach with drug dealers because they are breaking our laws and causing great damage to this country by poisoning our children. Similarly, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS  violate our laws and Poison our system of Economics by TAKING JOBS  from American Workers, Keeping WAGES ARTIFICIALLY LOW, and Sucking MILLIONS of Dollars of TAXPAYERS MONEY out of our Welfare and Medical Systems. \nNot To Mention The Fact That A Majority Of ILLEGAL ALIENS Live And Work In This Country And Then Send Their Money Back Home To Their