According the folks at the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC), immigrants (legal and illegal aliens) paid over $10 million in various taxes (payroll, income, etc.).
Now, the original source of the information combines both those here legally and those in the US illegally. I am not faulting the source of the data, but I am faulting the MCC and, to some extent, Archbishop Wuerl for trying to confuse the average Catholic.
The MCC tries to obfuscate the issue by mixing up both legal immigration and illegal immigration, especially since they don’t like to use the word “illegal alien” but “undocumented.” This is a great tactic because they use it against people by saying, in a very subtle way; you are a racist because you are against immigrants.
Let me say this over and over, most of us do not have any issue with those who have gone thru the process and entered the county legally. We do have an issue with those who have entered ILLEGALLY.
However, I am digressing a bit.
If the MCC wishes to use numbers, then we might want to point out that although households led by illegal aliens paid $16 billion in taxes (in 2002 across the US), they imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the US Federal Government alone. This creates a fiscal deficit of almost $10.4 billion.
Gee, I wonder why the MCC did not include that number.
As usual, the MCC is playing fast and loose. If the Archbishop wants to cut some costs in the Diocese, I suggest he may want to start with the MCC.
Statistics from the Center for Immigration Studies. The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget (August 2004).
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