StrykerFSU wrote: Do illegals get minimum wage? What fraction of whatever they make do they pay tax on? I don't run a business or evil corporation but it's probably pretty tough to put an illegal on salary, they might be a little reluctant to hand over information for their W-2's.
If we bump up min wage to $9.50, what do we do with other people's wages? Doesn't everyone's pay scale have to be increased as well? You can't have a manager only making a couple of bucks more than the fry cook.
I'd say that illegals likely don't get minimum wage, but they DO pay taxes, which is one of the most common misconceptions regarding the illegal immigrant debate. A few interesting statistics...
As the debate over illegal immigration continues to rage, some pundits and policymakers are claiming that unauthorized immigrants do not pay taxes and rely heavily on government benefits. Neither of these claims is borne out by the facts. Undocumented men have work force participation rates that are higher than other workers, and all undocumented immigrants are ineligible for most government services, but pay taxes as workers, consumers, and residents.
Like The Rest of Us, Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes
Undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy not only through the labor they provide, but through the taxes they pay. Between one-half and three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay federal and state income taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes. And all undocumented immigrants pay sales taxes (when they buy anything at a store, for instance) and property taxes (even if they rent housing).
According to the 2005 Economic Report of the President, undocumented immigrants working “‘on the books’…contribute to the tax rolls but are ineligible for almost all Federal public assistance programs and most major Federal-state programs.” The report also notes that immigrants in general “contribute money to public coffers by paying sales and property taxes (the latter are implicit in apartment rents).”
The Undocumented and Social Security: Contributing Yes, Collecting No
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has concluded that undocumented immigrants “account for a major portion” of the billions of dollars paid into the Social Security system under names or social security numbers that don’t match SSA records; payments from which immigrants cannot benefit while undocumented.5 As of October 2005, the reported earnings on which these payments are based—which are tracked through the SSA’s Earnings Suspense File (ESF)—totaled $520 billion.
Even at the State Level, Undocumented Immigrants Still Pay More in Taxes Than They Use in Services
A 2006 study by the Texas State Comptroller found that “the absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our gross state product of $17.7 billion. Undocumented immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, which exceeded the $1.16 billion in state services they received.”
Similarly, a 2007 study by the Oregon Center for Public Policy estimated that undocumented immigrants in Oregon pay state income, excise, and property taxes, as well as federal Social Security and Medicare taxes, which “total about $134 million to $187 million annually.” In addition, “taxes paid by Oregon employers on behalf of undocumented workers total about $97 million to $136 million annually.” As the report goes on to note, undocumented workers are ineligible for the Oregon Health Plan, food stamps, and temporary cash assistance.
Likewise, a 2007 report from the Iowa Policy Project concluded that “undocumented immigrants pay an estimated aggregate amount of $40 million to $62 million in state taxes each year.” Moreover, “undocumented immigrants working on the books in Iowa and their employers also contribute annually an estimated $50 million to $77.8 million in federal Social Security and Medicare taxes from which they will never benefit. Rather than draining state resources, undocumented immigrants are in some cases subsidizing services that only documented residents can access.”
There was a widely reported I.C.E. raid on a kosher meatpacking plant last month in Postville, IA, with over 300 out of 1,000 employees taken into custody. This in a town with a population of about 2,500. Do you think they were helping the local economy? What is interesting, but not surprising, is that there was a well-organized system to get fake papers for the employees, as well as side benefits for some of the supervisors.
Car registrations, titles included in ICE investigation
By JEFF REINITZ, Waterloo Courier Staff Writer
POSTVILLE — Vehicles with license plates from Des Moines County have caught the eye of federal postal and state transportation authorities.
In fact, two of the things immigration agents sought to seize when they raided Agriprocessors on Monday were titles and registration for vehicles with Des Moines County license plates.
In September 2005, officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation began investigating why so many vehicles registered to Burlington residents were renewing their registration in Allamakee County, according to court records.
Undocumented workers sometimes title vehicles in false identities and fake addresses to avoid detection by police or immigration officials, immigration officials said in court records.
An alert DOT investigator noticed a number of the suspiciously titled vehicles could be found in the Agriprocessors parking lot, records state.
Records allege officials uncovered a connection between the vehicles, a supervisor at Agriprocessors and a Cedar Rapids automobile dealership.
Dealership managers told DOT officials they were good friends with the supervisor, who is referred to in court records only as “C,” and had sold a large number of cars to people in Postville through him. Part of this arrangement allegedly breached Iowa law, which requires all vehicle dealers to be licensed, court records allege.
Dealership managers told DOT investigators that “C” would call them for a specific type of vehicle, which they would buy at auction. “C” would then pick up the vehicle.
The cars were then sold to people in Postville but titled in Chickasaw, Des Moines and other counties. When questioned, one person who applied to register vehicles for Postville residents told DOT officials he was mailed vehicle information and money to do the transactions. He then went to the Des Moines County Treasurer’s Office to register on behalf of the new owner but used addresses of friends in the Burlington and West Burlington area, records state. He then arranged to pick up registrations and titles mailed to his friends and sent them in bulk to Postville.
Investigators also talked with an illegal worker at the plant in 2006 who said a supervisor had approached him about buying a vehicle from him. When the worker declined, the supervisor refused to transfer him to a more favorable job at the plant, records state.
Supposedly this "company store" mentality also extended to rental housing.
So yes, these employers need to be held accountable for violating the law, but you don't hear nearly the level of abuse hurled at them as you do at the workers that are simply trying to provide for their families.
Some type of immigartion reform is needed - the current system is obviously not working, building fences is a waste of money (Maginot Line, anyone?) - some type of guest worker program would be the best for all concerned, but politically risky.
As far as having to raise the pay of managers to stay ahead of the huge increases in the minimum wage, the CEOs of America's corporations were well ahead of you on that point. We don't want them to suffer, nosiree!
Pay for Performance
According to Business Week, the average CEO of a major corporation made 42 times the average hourly worker's pay in 1980. By 1990 that had almost doubled to 85 times. In 2000, the average CEO salary reached an unbelievable 531 times that of the average hourly worker.
