How much do Florida's undocumented immigrants pay in taxes? Numbers may surprise you

MIAMI — Undocumented immigrants in Florida paid nearly $1.8 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to a recent report analyzing what people who generally cannot legally work in the United States because of their immigration status contribute to the country’s public coffers.

The Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal-leaning, nonpartisan think tank based in Washington D.C., found that Florida was one of six states where undocumented residents contributed more than $1 billion that year in state and local taxes.

In total, an estimated 10.9 million undocumented immigrants in the United States paid $96.7 billion to federal, state, and local governments in 2022, according to the think tank’s investigation, which used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service.

The report underscores the importance of undocumented immigrants in funding government services in the U.S., including federal social welfare programs that provide health care and retirement benefits. It also stands in sharp contrast to characterizations from Gov. Ron DeSantis and other GOP leaders who have accused undocumented immigrants of being burdens on the public treasury.

The states that had the most contributions from undocumented workers were California ($8.5 billion), Texas ($4.9 billion) and New York ($3.1 billion). Undocumented residents in Illinois and New Jersey contributed less than Florida, but still more than a billion dollars in each state. Those five states and Florida are all home to the largest undocumented migrant populations in the country.

Despite not being able to legally work in the country, undocumented immigrants are subject to U.S. taxation laws and make billions in annual contributions to local and federal tax authorities. In absence of a social security number, the Social Security Administration gives them unique individual taxpayer numbers they can use.

“We really hope these figures provide the public and policymakers with accurate information. Our results are clear that undocumented immigrants in the U.S. pay taxes,” said Marco Guzman, a senior policy analyst at the institute and one of the report’s authors.

The findings

Almost 39% of undocumented immigrants’ tax contributions went towards state and local governments in 2022, according to the report. That includes contributions made in personal and business income taxes, sale and excise taxes, and property taxes paid as both homeowners and renters.

“It bears noting that this figure includes only the taxes borne by undocumented immigrants and that other research attempting to quantify the significance of immigrants to the economy more broadly points toward a higher revenue impact per person,” the report says.

Another recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, the federal agency that provides economic and budgetary analysis to U.S. lawmakers, found that the recent influx of migrants to the country will add $1.2 trillion in federal revenue alone over the next decade.

Undocumented immigrants are often working professionals, living in households where family members have different immigration status, and are well established here, said Guzman. The Department of Homeland Security found in a recent report that about 80% of all undocumented immigrants in the United States have been in the country for a decade or more.

The Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy estimated that there were about 700,000 undocumented immigrants living in Florida in 2022. DHS put that figure at about 590,000.

The report also found that over a third of undocumented immigrants’ total contributions are going into federal programs they cannot access. In 2022, they paid $25.7 billion in social security, $6.4 billion in Medicare taxes, and $1.8 billion in unemployment insurance taxes via income and payroll.

“Undocumented immigrants are often paying into a system that they are not benefiting from,” said Guzman.

Florida’s rhetoric

When DeSantis signed a series of immigration-related restrictions in May 2023, he said that, among other reasons, the legislation was intended to ensure that “Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration.”

The state’s Agency for Health Care Administration reported a separate dashboard required by state law that found that hospitals had incurred over $566 million in care costs for undocumented immigrants between June 2023 and December 2023.

Texas, Florida and over a dozen other Republican-led states sued DHS over a Biden administration parole process that allows Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans to live and work in the United States for two years. The states argued that the program was an overreach of executive authority.

In the lawsuit, Florida alleged that it would be “irreparably harmed by the parole program,” because the presence of undocumented immigrants has costs in the millions of dollars. It said the prison system spent $100 million in holding undocumented migrants, and more than $8,000 per public school student regardless of immigration status per year. It also said that it was providing undocumented residents with domestic violence shelter, childcare, mental health treatment, and unemployment benefits, among others services.

By the end of June, nearly half a million people had flown to the United States through the parole program. However, the program is currently paused because DHS is reviewing the applications of required financial sponsors over concerns of fraud.

The federal judge overseeing the lawsuit in Texas dismissed the case in March, ruling that the plaintiffs had failed to establish standing. However, he emphasized that he had not evaluated the legality of the program itself.

Miami Herald staff writer Ana Claudia Chacin contributed to this story.