Professor Francine Lipman and Jose Antonio Vargas Discuss the Taxes Paid by Immigrants

Check out this episode of Define American with Jose Antonio Vargas

One of the biggest myths about undocumented immigrants is that they don’t pay taxes. Undocumented people pay federal income tax, state and local taxes, sales tax — contributing tens of billions of dollars each year. They pay Social Security and unemployment tax, even though they are ineligible to receive those benefits — essentially subsidizing the system.

The ‪@WashingtonPost‬ has reported on an agreement in the works between the IRS and ICE in which the tax agency would share information with immigration officials on the names and addresses of people facing deportation orders.

In this interview, Jose Antonio Vargas speaks with my former student, Francine Lipman, William S. Boyd Professor of Law at UNLV, about how much undocumented immigrants contribute in taxes and the potentially devastating impacts of IRS and ICE collaboration on both immigrant families and the U.S. economy.

KJ