VOA慢速英语--非法移民交了多少税

AS IT IS 2016-04-04 How Much Do Illegal Immigrants Pay in Taxes? 非法移民交了多少税

The American race for president has put immigration to the top of the national conversation.

Some candidates argue that immigrants are a drag on U.S. taxpayers¹.

Illegal immigrants cost the U.S. economy about $113 billion every year, said a report released by the Federation² for American Immigration Reform in 2010.

That conservative group, which supports stronger limits on immigration, said state and local governments pay most of the cost.

But how much do illegal immigrants pay in taxes?

According to the Institute on Taxation³ and Economic Policy, a non-partisan research group, about $11.64 billion a year in state and local taxes.

Matt Gardner is the executive director of the Institute. He says it is difficult to know the exact costs of illegal immigration. He says many estimates are guesses.

But he says he believes illegal immigrants pay a lot of tax.

“If you listened to the policy debates that are happening -- whether it’s from candidates or from people who are already in office -- you would think the answer is ‘zero.’

“It’s a lot bigger than zero ... $11.6 billion a year is a meaningful amount of revenue for state and local governments,” he says.

The institute estimates that illegal immigrants would pay about $2.1 billion dollars more if they were permitted to work legally.

There are more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. They are about 3.5 percent of the nation’s population. Most of them live in California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey⁴ and Illinois. About half are Mexican.

In a 2007 report, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that legal and illegal immigrants pay more tax than the cost of services they are given.

The same report found that on the state and local level, illegal immigrants paid less tax than the what they took in services.

Words In This Story

conversation - n. a talk or discussion involving to or more people

drag - n. someone or something that makes action or progress slower or more difficult

guesses - n. predictions

revenue - n. money that is made by or paid to an organization or business

1 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

2 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

3 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

4 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。