They Pay Taxes

30. Are you aware that it is a fallacy that undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes?

31. About 7 million of the 12 million undocumented immigrants are employed using fake ID's and are paying payroll taxes withheld from their wages, (Eduardo Porter, "Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions," New York Times, April 5, 2005, at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html? pagewanted=all&position=.)

32. Are you aware that these 7 million undocumented immigrants who pay payroll taxes are subsidizing our Social Security System to the tune of about $7 billion dollars annually-a pension system in which they do not benefit? (Ibid.)

33. Also, the 12 million undocumented immigrants pay taxes not connected to their wages such as sales taxes on their consumption and purchases, property taxes as part of their rent, and gasoline excise taxes?

Bringing Them Out Of Their Legal "Limbo" Status Is Economic Pragmatism

34. Of the 12 million undocumented immigrants, 5 million are not paying payroll taxes; they are being paid "under the table."

35. If it is impractical to deport 12 million undocumented immigrants, doesn't it make more pragmatic economic sense to capture the payroll taxes of the approximately 5 million who are escaping payroll taxes-thereby, joining the 7 million who are paying payroll taxes?

36. If it is impractical to deport 12 million people, doesn't it make more pragmatic economic sense to allow these people to emerge from their legal "limbo" status outside the law and let them become fully productive and contributing citizens of society?

37. Does economic pragmatism help explain why many people are in favor of earned citizenship?