Wednesday, April 11, 2012

How Would You Spend Your Tax Dollars: Day Three


How Would You Spend Your Tax Dollars: Day Three

Immigrants and Taxes!

tax day 3As you file your tax returns this year, please remember the great tax contributions made by immigrants, both documented and undocumented, to the coffers of our local, state and national economies.
Unauthorized immigrants in North Carolina paid $317.7 million in state and local taxes in 2010, according to data from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, which includes:
  • $82.3 million in state income taxes
  • $25.9 million in property taxes
  • $209.5 million in sales taxes.
(Source: NC Justice Center, The Immigration Policy Center, Unauthorized Immigrants Pay Taxes, Too -Washington, DC: April 2011)

Take Action!

Sign the Petition!  There is currently a legislative committee examining the North Carolina’s role in immigration policy. Many immigrants and advocates fear that the committee may attempt to pass draconian anti-immigrant legislation similar to that which passed in Arizona and Alabama. Sign this online petition to tell lawmakers “no hate in our state!”   
“My parents brought me from Mexico to North Carolina when I was 18 months old. I didn’t understand until I was much older what it means to be undocumented, and that there is no way for me to legalize my status.”
“I pay taxes. My parents pay taxes. As a home- owner, a landowner, and a car-owner, I pay into the system every year. Few people realize that undocumented residents create millions of dollars of tax revenue every year. But I do not get the same benefits as US citizens or other legal residents. Undocumented immigrants are paying into Social Security, but we will never reap those benefits.”
“I’ve lived in NC almost my whole life and gotten my grade school education here, but I can’t go to college like my high school friends. As a tax paying resident of NC for 21 years, I am being forced to pay out-of-state tuition for college. I want to be a professional and I know I have a lot to offer to my country and my state, if given the opportunity.   What kind of North Carolina are we building for young people like me?” –Moises Serrano, Yadkinville, NC

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