Why the U.S. Must Heavily Tax Remittances

[TBoneTX 45,266]

Thoughts about this?  It's not just south-of-border illegals, but also (for just one example of many) Filipinas who come on K-1 and CR-1 visas.  Discussion, please.

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Why the U.S. Must Heavily Tax Remittances

One of the most under-discussed drivers of illegal immigration is the explosion of remittances, which has created a major economic incentive for foreign nationals to pour into the U.S.

 

Immigrants of both the legal and illegal variety are coming to the U.S., earning money, and sending it back home instead of putting it into the U.S. economy.  [...]

 

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/07/why_the_u_s_must_heavily_tax_remittances_from_illegals.html

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

that's been a long term issue.  the latest i can find is
More than $63 billion in remittances were sent to Mexico in 2023, with most of the money arriving from the United States, according to Banxico, Mexico's central bank

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

9 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Thoughts about this?  It's not just south-of-border illegals, but also (for just one example of many) Filipinas who come on K-1 and CR-1 visas.  Discussion, please.

The author does a poor job of keeping illegal alien remittance separate from legal alien remittance.  Although he seems to be leaning on illegal alien remittance for taxation, he ends up with "tax remittances" which could mean all remittance.

 

So what about citizen remittance?  If you are quoting total remittance figures like India 100 billion, and then breaking them down by U.S. legal status, you might have:

 

Citizen:  75%

Legal Alien: 15 %

Illegal Alien: 10%

Total 100%

 

I'm just throwing those % numbers out there.  However, I live in the Philippines where remittance is an important part of the economy.  Pre-pandemic, remittance was averaging 9% of Philippine GDP.  For 2023, the total was 33.5 billion and 13.7 billion came from the U.S.

 

So how much of that came from Filipino Americans who became U.S. citizens?  How much from legal aliens?  How much from illegals?

 

While I agree illegals should not be able to just walk in and then earn money and then send it home, (and certainly not to our enemies) the author does not lay out how taxing ONLY illegal remittances would work.  How do you track them?  Do they have SSN? How do we even know of their tax status?  Need a new branch of the IRS?

 

Remittance may be a small part of the incentive for illegal entry to the U.S., but taxation and bigger government is not the answer.  Just keep them out the old fashioned way:  SECURE THE BORDERS AND SEND THEM BACK.  For most groups,  sending them back will end most of the incentive to come and they will never earn any money in the U.S.

 

As far as double taxing U.S. citizens and legal aliens on U.S. earned and taxed income used for remittances, hogwash.  The government is going to tell us what we can do with our after-tax income?  Also, if that ever came about, other countries would retaliate against all the U.S. citizens who work and live overseas.

 

Remittance to your Filipino family is a time honored tradition for Filipinos and is a primary factor for many to go abroad, legally.  Filipino culture respects and takes care of their elders, and much of this is done through remittance.

 

The argument that the money is not put back in the U.S. economy is not strong.  Only a smaller % of income earned would be sent home.  For normal people, you have to take care of your expenses first, spending it in the U.S.,  and send some leftover home.  Of course, if you are illegal, and the government is paying for a nice hotel, food, healthcare and other things, maybe you could send almost all of it home, just saving a little bit for cigs and beer.

[top_secret 2,414]

NO.  We do not need another new excuse for yet even more additional taxes.  Presumably the money being remitted has already been taxed when if it was earned in the US.  If there is speculation that there is widespread untaxed earnings by illegal aliens being remitted overseas then perhaps they should focus on cracking down on untaxed earnings by illegal aliens rather than taxing overseas remittances.

[TBoneTX 45,266]

Good discussion, all -- if you have more, keep it coming.