The US Government , The State’s and Local’s , actually make money off immigrants….
IMMIGRANTS IN THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY paid nearly $100 billion in taxes in 2022, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic policy.
But that source of government revenue may soon taper off as the Trump administration pushes the Internal Revenue Service to help it accelerate its program of mass deportations.
The Washington Post reported Friday that the IRS rejected a request from Homeland Security to reveal the addresses of 700,000 people the agency suspects of being undocumented, an action that could violate taxpayer privacy laws. But the Post went on to report the new acting IRS commissioner Melanie Krause is (surprise) more amenable to complying with the request to turn over the taxpayer data of immigrants.
The result, experts say, is not just that tax data will be morphed into a cudgel for the immigration fights. People are also now becoming too scared to file their taxes. One immigration lawyer told me they suspect the number of people forgoing those filings will only rise as the Washington Post report hits Spanish-language media.
Tax professionals and immigration advocates in areas with large immigrant populations who spoke to The Bulwark said they are already feeling the effects. And it’s not just tax filings—it’s the shriveling of small businesses with ties to the community. In Nevada, which has the third-highest rate among states of mixed-status families—where at least one family member is undocumented—an employee at Toro Taxes in Las Vegas, where their clientele is 95 percent Latino, said overall business has dropped a stunning 25 percent from last year.
“Business is slow,” the employee who declined to give her name said, adding that even longtime customers have disappeared or said they won’t be filing taxes this year: “They’re saying they’re too scared.”
In Corona, Queens—where in 2016 I found that one in five residents was undocumented—Dejesus Tax Services has seen the same chill among its customer base, 80 percent of whom are Latino, as tax season heats up. The owner said an estimated 60 percent of Dejesus clients known to the company to be here illegally are not showing up to file taxes so far.
“Turnout has been very low,” Ramon DeJesus told The Bulwark. “At the beginning there was nobody, but now there is a trickle.”
“I have people that come here with a W2 for $120,000 with no papers, usually in construction, and this year a lot of them have been afraid to come in,” he said. “Even the streets around my office have been quiet.”
This dynamic has left immigrants in a desperate bind: fearful that they could be tracked down and deported if they file their taxes, but also mindful that they could get in trouble for not paying their taxes….
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.