To:
From:
Subject:
Research Proposal
Date:
April 28, 2013
Research
Topic: A 2011 survey by PEW Hispanic Centre found California
to have the highest number of undocumented immigrants by state. This comes in
when efforts are underway to bring immigration reforms. My topic would,
therefore, look at the impact of undocumented immigrants on the California tax
system. It will evaluate whether or not undocumented immigrants negatively
impact on the Californian economy. The immigrants in discussion here are of the
Mexican origin and other ethnicities between the years2011-2013.I want to find
out just how big is the margin of economic benefit from forced taxation on
illegal immigrants, and possibly come up with a reason why illegal immigration
should be justified. As a student of economics, this topic relates to my field
of study because the United States
economy is easily susceptible to drastic changes made by illegal immigrants
coming in. California encourages illegal immigrants to pay their tax as
according to the California Safe and Responsible Driver Act. This can be a
microcosm for a country-wide shift.
Research Question
I will explore the
question regarding how much tax revenue illegal immigrants contributed to
California. Though my status is legal, I believe that illegal immigrants play a
significant role in contributing to California by paying sales tax. California
residents thus benefit the most. Unlike the tourists, Illegal immigrants should
pay taxes like all U.S. citizens (Francine, L., 2006).According to Lipman (2006),
billions of dollars are collected from the illegal immigrants mainly from
taxation on sales, property and income payroll taxes to Medicare, Social
Security and unemployment taxes to federal, state, and local coffers each year.
This
topic is of significance interest to the general audience given that the issue
of illegal immigration has always carried a negative connotation. Many regard
it as the cause of the high unemployment rate.
Point of Debate:This
topic is highly debatable as many California residents believe that illegal
immigrants evade paying taxes and are instead draining resources, and therefore,
the government should take actions to stop this problem. Representative Lamar
Smith from Texas 21st District and a former chair of the House
Judiciary Committee has argued that illegal immigration hurt the U.S economy
directly and indirectly (2010).He cites the fact that illegal immigrants are drain
social services like education. Smith (2010) also argued that undocumented
immigrants deny many U.S citizens the chance to work at decent jobs. Even economists
are divided on the issue. Labor economists contend that the wages of
low-skilled Americans have been going down because of illegal immigration.
Other economists like Giovanni Peri at University of California, Davis,
however, argue that undocumented immigrants do not compete with skilled workers
but instead complement them (Davidson, 2013). My research has also failed to yield evidence supporting
the view that undocumented immigrants hurt the economy. It is apparent that the residents enjoy more benefits
when state government generates more income. However, some people like
low-skilled workers who actively compete with illegal immigrants will strongly
be against illegal immigrants.
Narrowing Scope:
I could narrow down the scope of this topic by focusing only on undocumented
immigrants of the Mexican origin and covering between 2011 to 2013 in the state
of California. This scope would fit in a 7-8 page paper by focusing only on the
key ideas which are the analysis of the money accrued by taxing illegal
immigrants on the one hand and that saved by withholding certain benefits from
them on the other. I would then discuss the implications of allowing illegal
immigration occur as it currently is.
Research
Plan: My research plan would be to attain facts found
from online articles and a scholarly article found in the UC Davis collections.
From the online articles, I acquired information such as the tax revenue from
illegal immigrants, state and local taxes paid by them, and all other past
numerical data. From the article found in the UC Davis collections, I acquired
information such the facts behind the issue of taxing illegal immigrants in the
United States.
References
Davidson, A. (2013, February 12).Do Illegal Immigrants Actually Hurt the
U.S Economy? The New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/magazine/do-illegal-immigrants-actually-hurt-the- us-economy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
It
is from this paper that I learned that economic arguments against illegal
immigration are often advanced to
support a preconceived point of view. Both opponents and proponents of illegal immigration will
often find a way of justifying their assumed position.
The author was able to convincingly put a case for undocumented immigrants while noting to downplay the negative
impacts.
Lamar,S.(2010,April 15). Illegal immigration is a tax-dollar drain. The
Daily Caller. Retrieved April 29,
2013, from http://www.dailycaller.com/2010/04/15/illegal-immigration-is-a- tax-dollar-drain/
This
article provided me with a political perspective on the issue of undocumented immigrants. The author takes the
position characteristic of most Republicans. In an attempt to discredit the position of the Democrats, the article
first presents that position giving
the reader a view on how Americans of different political persuasions think.
Lantigua,
J. (2011, December 28). Illegal immigrants pay social security tax, won’t
benefit. The Seattle Times.Retrieved
fromhttp://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2017113852_immigtaxes29.html.
From this source, I learned that
billions of dollars are deducted from paychecks issued to undocumented workers. This is contrary to the
beliefs of many Americans that illegal immigrants
do not pay taxes.
Unauthorized immigrants pay taxes,
too. (2011, April 18). Retrieved from http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/unauthorized-immigrants-pay-taxes-too.
From this source, I learned that at
least half of unauthorized immigrants pay taxes like everyone else. They pay sales taxes, property taxes- even if
they rent. According to the institute
of Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP), illegal immigrants households paid $ 11.2 billion in state in local
taxes. California received $ 2.7 billion from these households.
Lipman,
F. (2006). Taxing undocumented immigrants: separate, unequal, and without
representation.Tax Lawyer, Vol. 59 Issue
3, p813-866, 54p.
From
this source, I learned that many Americans believe undocumented immigrants are exploiting the United States’ Economy. They
believe the illegal immigrants cost more in government
services than they contribute to the economy. Empirical studies however, have shown that illegal immigrants contribute
more to the public coffer in taxes than they cost
in social services. Undocumented immigrants also contribute to the economy through their investment and consumption of
goods and services.
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