Undocumented Immigrants and Taxation

t r u t h o u t | "The Price That We Pay" - Undocumented Immigrants and Taxation

An article about undocumented immigrants who pay taxes every year (but will never see any benefits from it...) I was just going to read this and move on, but ...well, you know, the comments just got me so annoyed...

When someone refers to a job as "stolen from an American citizen," they're forgetting some very important points - for something to be stolen from someone, they must be entitled to it/own it in some way. Last I checked, a person has to prove first that they deserve that job and earn it. That job belongs to no one but the company until it's earned. If any person was offered that job, they must have something the company wants (skills, experience, and/or in many cases willingness to take lower pay). And that's enough to earn them that job. It's the business world, it sucks, but it is what it is. Everyone else who wants that job has to prove they're the best candidate-- therefore, if you lose, you lose. Nothing was "stolen" from you unless you already had the job and someone cheated and pushed you out of it. It has nothing to do with whether or not you have "citizenship" on a chunk of land, it's business. And hey, odds are that if that person wasn't there to do that job for a lower wage, the company would probably have outsourced it. There's no guarantee that an American citizen would get it, nor that they would even be paid a higher wage than what the undocumented person earned. (For all we know, it's minimum wage all around!) You're mad at the wrong people here. It's the businesses that you should complain about. If you want the government to stay out of business and people's lives, this is what you get. Make hiring them and outsourcing illegal or don't. Make up your mind.

Second, someone started ranting about how immigrants paying taxes must be "liberal bs." So 1, you didn't bother to read the article, and 2, there's TONS of research (including this article, and this news story, and this one...) that immigrants have been paying taxes in this country for decades. The IRS even helps them in a way - a person can have an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number if they are ineligible for a social security number. Studies say over 8 million file taxes every year, which is estimated to be about 2/3 of the current undocumented population. Every time they get a regular paycheck, taxes are taken out automatically. And in either case, they get almost NONE of that back in benefits or Social Security. (They may be eligible for a refund check, but that's usually the most they get, if anything ever.) Every time they rent or buy a house, they're paying property taxes. They're paying in but not cashing out, so that the rest of us will get our checks when we're old enough. Not to mention (yet again) that every time someone buys something in this country, they pay state sales taxes! Their American-born children will get the same benefits as any other citizen, but in terms of "welfare" it's not enough to live off of. Someone needs to do some more research before completely dismissing fact for "liberal" fiction...

Then there's that whole "I'm so annoyed they don't speak English! They should be legal!" This person ranted for a good while about people needing to speak English in America. What? So to be "legal" in America one must learn English? While I do think we should've probably just picked a national language way back when so we wouldn't be wasting time with this stupid argument, and it would certainly make communication easier, I was rather peeved when I heard that from our President as well. We are not a melting pot anymore. Frankly, I thought the latest update was the salad bowl thing-- you know, pluralism & all... And for that, I present you with this-- This is America. Speak whatever language you want. (yea, the Facebook protest/ban is over... There's no way I could take another day of that though... It so neatly organizes data and groups for me...) It's strange though, the huge difference between the academic world and half of America (the half that also doesn't include any of the business world)- to be bilingual, or fluent in something other than English (even if your English isn't perfect) is seen as such a gift, such an accomplishment... It's highly prized and opens so many doors...

For now, I'm washing my hands of this immigration business. Maybe I'll end up updating an old post, maybe I'll share something to the twit crap, whatever. It's not the only thing going on in the world, and I think perhaps I've spent far too much time on this issue. (Though I probably really should go wash my hands... I probably have pesticide all over, even though it's more or less edible and organic... That & who knows what kind of germs I'm spreading right now -_-" It looks like strep and acts like strep, but it's not strep...?)

'night.