There's no definitive way to tell how many undocumented people living in the U.S. are paying their taxes and how much, exactly, they are paying, but experts agree that dues are being paid - and will amount to billions of dollars in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes this year. According to the Associated Press, one rough estimate puts the amount of Social Security taxes alone at around $9 billion per year, something these taxpayers will likely never benefit from. And a report released last week by the Immigration Policy Center estimated that immigrant households and businesses paid a total of about $300 billion in local, state and federal taxes in 2005.

Americans dread the April 15 tax deadline; most would probably weasel their way out of paying taxes if they could. People hire high-dollar tax professionals to get them the "best deals" on their filings, and state comptrollers reclaim millions lost due to tax fraud each year.

Many Americans probably couldn't fathom the thought that a person with no legal identity would pay taxes when he or she could get away without doing so, but many undocumented immigrants do despite fear of deportation. And many are happy to do so, as they may see it as a step in the direction of U.S. citizenship (unfortunately, it's not) or simply as the right thing to do.

But despite undocumented persons' readiness to give back, our federal government has no problem spending millions on a wall to block them out of our country, and our state governments aren't half bad at wasting time and money on discriminatory measures either. As of Nov. 1, undocumented persons in Oklahoma have been unable to legally obtain driver's licenses or public services, and an Oklahoma Bankers Association study released last month estimated that the new law will cause $1.8 billion in economic losses as foreign-born workers flee the state. Last week, Rhode Island's General Assembly discussed a bill that would require all employers to electronically verify employees' citizenship statuses, and the measure is highly expected to move forward. In Texas, the towns of Irving and Farmers Branch have been successful in pushing anti-illegal immigration law through: Irving, a town of about 200,000, has detained and deported more than 2,000 undocumented immigrants under a program launched in 2006, and Farmers Branch has banned undocumented individuals from renting apartments. The list goes on and continues to grow.

Still, the IRS gladly provides alternatives for Social Security numbers so it can collect income tax from foreign workers, even though these citizens seldom see refund checks or Social Security benefits. Likewise, they most often enter the U.S. in their prime working years, missing out on the benefit of an American education and upbringing. Last week's IPC report estimated that immigrants pay, on average, between $20,000 and $80,000 more in taxes than they consume in public benefits.

Many undocumented workers are paid under the table, often in cash, so they can only estimate how much they make. Economist William Ford of Middle Tennessee State University told the AP that there are undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of people who pay more than they owe. The IRS, on the other hand, is no honor system. Our government could learn something from our country's undocumented population beyond how to surreptitiously exploit them.

- CH

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