Illegal immigrants DO pay taxes, page 2

I have seen plenty of illegals get paid regular payroll checks with social security withheld. Social security could track them down quickly, but they don't. Most don't really pay much in the way of income taxes because they claim a high number of exemptions. I work for a company that has had illegals and once in a while we'd get a letter from SS advising that an employees' social security number did not appear to be valid, please provide a corrected SS #. I would then advise the employee of same and voila, the next day they would come in with a new social security card, with a new number. I would forward same to SS and that would be the last you would hear of it. As near as I can tell, most of the #s they use are just pulled from the air. Did actually have one that had been using someone else's number, I know this because the victim called after finding out about his earnings.

At one point, when the government indicated they were really going to start tracking these illegals down, my employer brought in an immigration attorney to talk to the employees about any "family members" that might be here illegally. Didn't really get to sit in on the conversations however, I did kind of grab the lawyer for a few minutes as she was leaving to make a couple of inquiries about the I-9, the form that has to be filled out to verify your citizenship, or right to work in this country as a few changes had been made. I wanted to know what documentation we were required to have on file. We had always made a copy of the employees drivers license and SS card to meet the requirements. This attorney advised that we not only were not supposed to keep a copy of the required documentation... we weren't even supposed to handle them, merely write the identifying numbers down.

Personally, I have an issue with illegals. I believe if immigration laws were enforced, our unemployment rate would be half of what it is. I absolutely abhor that my employer harbors them as do many others in the construction industry. I have plenty of friends and family that can't find work and I watch these illegals continue to hold jobs. On the other hand, I like a lot of them as people and can attest to what a nightmare it is for them to enter the country legally. Not only is it a long process... it is costly. For people trying to leave a poor country, quite often prohibitively so. Funny thing is, even as illegals, they can apply for a tax id number with social security, as an illegal. Doing this will really help their cause if they do try to become citizens.

Actually had ICE roll in one day requesting payroll records, etc. They had actually come to the wrong company which I determined after reading their demand letter as they sat in front of me. It was kind of funny because one of the illegals on staff walked right by them, not knowing who they were. Bet he dropped one in his drawers when his fellow employees told him later that he had walked right past La Migra. This caused me to look at what fines and penalties could be imposed on the employer, or even myself if we were found to have illlegals. It's a joke. First offense is like $1000 or some piddly amount. Really only gets ugly if there are repeated offenses.

As I said earlier, I like a lot of these people, as people. A good many of them have gone on to get their citizenship. However, an awful lot of them really do have an entitlement mentality. One was telling about his life when he first came here (illegally) and how he was living in Section 8 housing and on food stamps and proceeded to tell me how he had had four children and never paid a dime for any of them because his wife went to the University Hospital. I went ballistic. Told him, so you mean to tell me that I got to pay your way? I was working, paying taxes and paying for health insurance when I had mine... about the same time he had his. Needless to say, he didn't bring THAT up again.

Here's kind of what I think... net/net the illegals are a financial drain on the country but, because of who provides what benefit, it is advantageous to the federal government for them to stay. IRS DOES get to collect social security payments that will never have to be paid out. On the other hand, there is a lot of free loading going on but the brunt of that expense falls on the shoulders of the individual states, cities and counties as that's who pays most welfare benefits, healthcare, education, etc. IMO, that's why the federal government was so aggressive in trying to prevent Arizona from passing/enforcing laws to get and keep the illegals out.