If all undocumented immigrants were deported today, next year's Social Security trust funds would have approximately $13 billion less for benefit payouts. It's a considerable loss of dollars, especially when it's projected that the Social Security funds will be depleted by 2034.
According to New American Economy, undocumented immigrants contributed $13 billion into the Social Security funds in 2016 and $3 billion to Medicare. Three years prior, the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration, Stephen Goss, wrote a report that estimated undocumented immigrants contributed $12 billion into Social Security.
How undocumented immigrants pay into Social Security
Payroll tax, the 12 percent tax taken out of salaried workers' paychecks, split between employer and employee, primarily funds Social Security, accounting for 88 percent of the payouts in 2017. Undocumented workers typically use a fake SSN or someone else's SSN when applying for salaried jobs. Only a handful of U.S. states require employers to check an employee's eligibility and their SSN through E-Verify, a Department of Homeland Security database. Other states have varying levels of E-Verify requirements, from partial to none.
"The government, the IRS, will never say no to your tax dollars," said Abigail Zapote, the executive director of the D.C.-based nonprofit Latinos for a Secure Retirement, with a laugh.
The way Social Security works is that today's beneficiaries receive money thanks to the current workers paying into the system who will then ideally receive the same benefit payouts when they age and are no longer able to work.
Kolken said one solution would be to create an expanded guest worker program coupled with a law that wouldn't penalize undocumented immigrants living inside the U.S. or if they depart the country, for three to 10 years. It would give formerly undocumented workers legal authorization to work with SSNs, allowing for eligibility for Social Security benefits from that time forward.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world's events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
faux saint laurent bagreplica designer bags suppliers
www.popninja.net |
|
|