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Do people living in the US illegally pay billions in Social Security taxes every year?

Wednesday, February 24, 2021
By Gus Fisher
YES

The Social Security Administration estimated that in 2010 3.1 million people living in the country without legal authorization contributed $13 billion to the system, while receiving only $1 billion in benefits. Its 2013 report forecast “a continuation of this positive impact on the trust funds.”

These figures reflected the taxed earnings of workers with expired temporary visas, fraudulent social security numbers or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, a number which non-citizens can obtain to make it easier to process taxes. The numbers are issued to non-citizens regardless of their legal status.

New American Economy, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, reports that people living in the U.S. illegally pay a total of $30.6 billion in state, local, and federal taxes every year.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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