Legalizing Aliens Means Taxes, Improved Economy

Big Labor and Businessmen Want President Obama to Legalize Aliens

Jun 2, 2009

The US is the biggest host country for immigrants. Legalizing its 12 million aliens would mean more taxes, labor groups and businessmen are one in the call.

Unlikely ally labor unions and businessmen are one in offering the Obama administration a solution to the economic crunch in the US – legalize the 12 million immigrants in the country.

Two of the largest labor unions in the US and some immigrant businessmen believe that once legalized, the government is better off in earning taxes for its treasure chest.

“Once legalized, the immigrants are taxed, thus government earns from them. Right now, the immigrants are working and are sending their dollars back to their homes countries, with very little returned to the US government,” said Guillermo Escobar, owner and chief executive officer of the USA Computers Inc., a multi-media service provider based in Queens, New York.

Escobar, who comes from Bolivia, started his business in the early 1990s, after finishing a course in Computer Science in Manhattan. He said in an interview for Suite101.com that the economic crisis right now is the worst he has experienced so far.

He opined that legalized aliens, who are mostly gainfully employed, may be the first to buy real properties and all other financial investment plans that would accrue national income.

Right now, talks are rife that President Obama may ease the granting of green cards (for permanent residence in the US) to immigrants as did President Clinton in 2000.

Meanwhile, the nation’s two major labor federations, the American Federation of Labor-C.I.O. and Change to Win, agreed for the first time to support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, an Immigration Policy Center press release said.

“The announcement from the country’s most powerful labor federations serves as yet another signal that the momentum for immigration reform is building, and the muscle behind it is growing stronger. We applaud the leaders of the A.F.L.-C.I.O and Change to Win labor federations for providing constructive input and coming together to support a comprehensive solution to our broken immigration system,” she said in an on-line press release published by the IPC in March 2009.

The IPC press release also noted that there is a consensus among academic and government research which shows that immigration reform that includes a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants would pay for itself in the form of increased wages, buying power, and tax contributions that would benefit all workers and businesses.

The IPC, established in 2003, is the policy arm of the American Immigration Law Foundation. It aims to shape a rational national conversation on immigration and immigrant integration.

Kelley said America needs a workable immigration system that balances the needs of both hard-working men and women and honest businesses. “It is unacceptable to have millions working in our country in an underground economy. We neither expect to deport them, nor can we ignore the legitimate economic and family needs that attract immigrants to our country,” she said in the press release.

The A.F.L. - C.I.O. and Change to Win support comprehensive immigration reform because they understand that in order to best serve the interests of America’s working men and women, they must bring 12 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows,” said Kelley.

Meanwhile, Italian businessman Antonio Zeroni, co-owner of Moky Dental in Forest Hills, New York likewise concurred with the view of the other businessmen and noted that even with the documentation process of the immigrants alone, the government stands to earn millions of dollars already. Zeroni set up his dental laboratory business in 1999.

Immigrants constitute 12.2 percent of the total US work force and 12.5 percent of the total population of US business owners, according to the US Census 2000. They represent 16.7 percent of all new business owners in the US.

A study by the Small Business Advocacy in Washington, DC said immigrants are nearly 30% likely to start a business more than non-immigrants. Entitled “Estimating the Contribution of Immigrant Business Owners to the US Economy,” conducted by Robert W. Fairlie of Santa Cruz, California, the study said that immigrant business owners make significant contributions to business, generating $67 billion of the $577 billion in US business income or 11.6 percent of all business incomes.

The areas where immigrant businesses are concentrated are in California, New York, Florida and New Jersey.

Nearly 30 percent of all business owners in California are immigrants, compared with about 12.5 percent of the population of U.S. business owners. Twenty-five percent of business owners in New York and more than 20 percent in New Jersey, Florida, and Hawaii are foreign-born.

California immigrants are 34.2 percent of the new business owners each month. Nearly 30 percent of all new business owners per month in New York, Florida, and Texas are immigrants. Immigrants own 11.2 percent of businesses with $100,000 or more in sales and 10.8 percent of businesses with employees.

The Fairlie study said that immigrants own a large share in the US economy—more than one-fifth—of businesses in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry. They also contribute significantly to other services, transportation, and wholesale and retail trade. Immigrants also own a large share of businesses in the lowest and highest skill sectors and in several industries.

The copyright of the article Legalizing Aliens Means Taxes, Improved Economy in Entrepreneurs is owned by Marivir Montebon. Permission to republish Legalizing Aliens Means Taxes, Improved Economy in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.