The findings about tax receipts, however, are unlikely to change the intense political focus on immigration.
Florida is among a half-dozen states which each collect more than $1 billion in taxes from undocumented immigrants – a flow of public money likely to disappear under Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan, a new report shows.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal, nonprofit think tank, showed in a report released Tuesday that an estimated 747,000 undocumented immigrants in Florida paid more than $1.8 billion in state and local taxes in 2022.
Florida ranked fourth in the nation in tax dollars generated by these workers, trailing California, Texas and New York.
Nationwide, almost $100 billion in federal, state and local taxes come from this shadowy labor force, surpassing the cost of government services received by these workers, the institute concluded. The report points out these taxes help fund Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and other federal programs that those working illegally in the U.S. are barred from receiving.
“Undocumented immigrants work and pay taxes just like U.S. citizens, but they’re excluded from vital tax credits and the nation’s social safety net,” said Jackie Vimo, senior policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center.
But she added, “They’re at the center of a concerted dehumanization campaign.”
Immigration remains top issue in fight for White House
The findings about tax receipts are unlikely to change the intense political focus on immigration.
But with Trump pledging to deport most of the nation’s more than 10 million immigrants who don’t have legal documentation, the impact of such a move on state and national economies could be profound.
At the Republican National Convention, Trump said the “greatest invasion in history” is happening at the U.S. southern border.
A Gallup poll this month showed many Americans agreed, with 55% of those surveyed saying they want immigration decreased. An overwhelming 88% of Republican voters want heightened restrictions.
Trump claims mass deportations would reduce crime and free up more jobs for U.S.-born Americans, with the idea almost certain to remain a top talking point for the Republican nominee heading toward November.
The Heritage Foundation-backed Project 2025 blueprint of proposals for a second Trump term also largely endorses the former president’s approach.
More: ‘Lab rats?’ GOP’s Project 2025 looks to have been test-marketed in Florida
Also: What is Project 2025? 5 ways its radical ideas are similar to Florida laws
Undocumented workers paying as much in taxes as median Americans
But the new study challenges the common view that undocumented immigration represents a tremendous drain on the nation’s economy.
The report found those working illegally pay 26% of their income in taxes, roughly matching the median income group of the overall U.S. population. These workers are also less likely to claim refunds or tax credits, the study found.
Undocumented immigrants across the U.S. paid federal, state, and local taxes an average of $8,889 per person in 2022. As a result, for every 1 million undocumented immigrants who reside in the country, public services receive roughly $8.9 billion in tax revenue, the report showed.
Florida also is among 40 states where undocumented immigrants pay a larger share of their income in taxes than wealthier residents.
Partly because of Florida’s 6% sales tax, which hits a lower income person proportionately harder, those working illegally wind up paying an average 7.9% of their income in state and local taxes, compared to the top 1% of Florida earners who pay only 2.7%, the study found.
“In a state like Florida, where we’ve had recent policies that have been very hostile to immigrants, it’s important that we separate myth from reality,” said Alexis Tsoukalas, senior policy analyst with the Florida Policy Institute, an Orlando research organization.
“Immigrants, regardless of their status, benefit states in more ways than one,” she added.
Florida law may provide glimpse of what could come nationwide
Florida is conducting a crackdown on undocumented immigration which could prove a window into what could happen if Trump’s deportation plan were to become law.
Gov. Ron DeSantis last year enacted a law punishing employers who use undocumented labor and banning those not in this country legally from having a driver’s license. DeSantis has said he has no problem with companies hiring immigrants, as long as it’s done legally.
But Florida’s agriculture, construction and tourism industries rely heavily on a workforce whose legal status often is in doubt. The new law led to an exodus of many immigrant workers from Florida, leaving dozens of businesses and industry associations complaining of a labor shortage the past two years, at a time when available jobs in Florida already far-outstrip the number of applicants.
A Trump-appointed federal judge in May blocked a portion of the law which criminalizes the transportation of undocumented people into the state.
U.S. District Judge Roy Altman acknowledged concerns of farmworker advocates and other groups suing over the law that the transportation provision put thousands of people, including many U.S. citizens, at risk of being arrested for driving a relative to a doctor’s appointment or simply leaving the state and returning after a family vacation.
Governor signs 2023 immigration law: DeSantis signs illegal immigration crackdown and rails against Biden
John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @JKennedyReport.