LOS ANGELES -- On Tax Day, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the largest immigrant rights organization in California, lifts up immigrants' contributions to this country and reminds lawmakers that immigrants, too, pay taxes, often without expecting or receiving the benefits other taxpayers enjoy.
In 2019, immigrants paid more than
$492 billion in state, local and federal taxes. Their spending power rose that year to $1.3 trillion, earned while working an overwhelming number of essential jobs, according to the Center for Migration Studies. A CMS study shows 69 percent of working immigrants, and 74 percent of those who are undocumented,
work essential critical infrastructure jobs helping this nation recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. That's nearly 20 million people.
Immigrants who become citizens continue to contribute more deeply to our economy and participate more enthusiastically in our civic life, enriching our democracy. A Cities for Citizenship study finds that naturalization brings growth in spending power, higher GDP and more tax revenues. And immigrants who become citizens are more likely to find work, earn higher salaries, and become homeowners.
Immigrants are crucial to the economic recovery that the Biden administration seeks to kick-start with its Build Back Better plan. Access to naturalization services will accelerate that recovery and improve their integration. As CHIRLA urges Congress to act quickly to approve the YES to Immigrants Agenda, today we lift the richness of immigrants' contributions, both economic and otherwise.
Please attribute the following statements to Angelica Salas, CHIRLA executive director:
"Paying our taxes is one fundamental way in which we participate in our government, because our tax money funds its operations. Paying taxes legitimizes our demand that politicians listen to our concerns. Immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, do the paying but often do not get the legitimacy or the benefits.
"When they pay their federal, state and local taxes, either with an individual tax identification number (ITIN) or through their local purchases, immigrants invest in our country. They help give our government the resources it needs to run smoothly, and they sign on to the idea that that government will one day recognize them and give them their due.
"On Tax Day, we recognize that immigrants power our economy and our democracy, even as this country returns the favor with neglect and abuse. Today, CHIRLA asks lawmakers to consider the contributions of immigrants and work to quickly include them in our democratic experiment. We ask them to pass the bills in the YES to Immigrants Agenda and send them to President Biden's desk. Only then can we ensure the successful integration of immigrants."
PLEASE NOTE: To highlight the economic contributions of immigrants, CHIRLA, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), Mayor Robert Garcia of the City of Long Beach, the NALEO Educational Fund, and the USC Equity Research Institute present a virtual discussion, Strengthening the Economic Power of our Country: Contributions of Naturalized Citizens, today, May 17, 2021, at 11 a.m. PDT/ 2 p.m. EDT. Watch for the live streamed event on CHIRLA's Facebook and Twitter.
