Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants

Immigration has always been an important part of the story of the United States. Today is certainly no exception.

Debates over immigration policy raise a huge array of issues that are fundamental to life in the U.S. To shed light on just one of those issues, this study undertakes the most thorough examination to date of the federal, state, and local tax payments made by undocumented immigrants.

To accomplish this, the study combines well-established techniques for estimating the size and tax-relevant characteristics of the undocumented population with the trove of data underlying ITEP’s comprehensive studies of U.S. tax incidence. In doing so, it arrives at nationwide estimates of the overall tax contributions of the estimated 10.9 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. as of 2022, as well as state-by-state estimates for those immigrants’ payments of state and local taxes. The report also forecasts the growth in tax contributions that would occur under a scenario in which these taxpayers were granted work authorization.  Read more