REPORT: DACA Recipients and DACA-Eligible Immigrants Pay $2 Billion Annually in State and Local Taxes

Apr 25, 2017
2:15 PM

On Tuesday, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) made public a new report where it said that the estimated 1.3 million young undocumented immigrants enrolled or immediately eligible for DACA actually contribute an estimated $2 billion a year in state and local taxes.

In addition, the report says that “DACA-eligible individuals pay on average 8.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes.” According to ITEP, these young immigrants’ effective tax rate “is higher than the average rate paid by the top 1% of taxpayers in state and local taxes of just 5.4 percent and is on par with the average rate paid of 9.4 percent paid by the middle 20 percent of taxpayers.”

If DACA were to continue and those who are eligible to get DACA were to enroll, ITEP estimated that state and local revenues would increase by $425 million, “bringing the total contribution to $2.45 billion, and increasing the effective tax rate for those enrolled to 9 percent.” In addition, ITEP said, “replacing DACA with a path to citizenship could provide nearly $505 million in additional state and local taxes, increasing total contributions to at least $2.53 billion a year.”

And if DACA were to be repealed, ITEP said that state and local revenues would drop “by nearly $800 million.”

You can read the full report here: