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Robin Baughman's avatar

Will someone please explain how illegal immigrants pay taxes? Are we talking about withholdings made by employers?

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This Woman Votes's avatar

Oh, brilliant. The Trump administration, famous for dodging taxes like a billionaire ducking subpoenas, now wants to turn the IRS into its deportation Gestapo. The sheer gall. Undocumented immigrants pay into a system they will never benefit from, funding the retirements of people who would gladly kick them out. Now Trump’s thugs want to weaponize that very contribution against them? The hypocrisy is thick enough to spread on toast.

And let’s talk about the economic brain rot here. Scaring off tax-paying workers when we already have labor shortages? Brilliant strategy. There's nothing like tanking small businesses, driving up costs, and gutting Social Security to score cheap racist points. Meanwhile, actual tax criminals like Trump himself and, oh yeah, Tesla, get a free pass.

If the IRS caves, this is not just an attack on immigrants. It is a signal flare that no one’s data is safe. Do you trust these people not to weaponize your tax records next? The rich do not fear the IRS because they own it. The rest of us? We are just data waiting to be exploited.

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Sara Idleman's avatar

Thank you. I live in an agricultural community. Immigrants are the life blood of our larger farms. They are also a major part of our construction business. So many trumpers think they do not pay taxes or contribute to society. How dreadfully wrong they are. This country was built on the backs of immigrants and children. Many, if not most, become assimilated, and their children are in our schools. We need to provide them with a safety net as they are a significant part of the workforce. The economy will crumble without them.

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Carl Lincoln's avatar

Depressing but incredible reporting—so much detail most Americans probably do not realize.

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Adam's avatar

What criminal pays their taxes? Here's one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G56VgsLfKY4

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Jennifer's avatar

lol

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Margaret Park's avatar

I suggest that our current administration does not care in the least about Social Security being funded. They would prefer to do away with it entirely. The government in the past has borrowed from the funds to meet emergencies. But the current administration doesn't give the smallest damn about the citizens of the country.

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Mirabelle's avatar

It's not just when you file your tax return that the government has your information, but your taxes paid are already on record.

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Scott Whitmire's avatar

How about we instead use the IRS to track down the rich who have already stopped paying their taxes?

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JL's avatar

Why didn't the undocumented/illegal immigrants follow the established process to be legal?

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Linda Odell's avatar

Because our lawmakers refuse to commit the resources necessary to make the established processes reasonable to navigate in any sort of secure and timely way.

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JL's avatar

So Congress doesn't view the process and timeframe unreasonable? What is unreasonable about the current process?

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Jennifer's avatar

Why do so many US employers knowingly employ the undocumented? First day on any job is filling out your W2, where there is that long list of possible documentation you need to provide to show your status........employers who hire the undocumented know EXACTLY what they are doing and why, and no one goes after them, I'm guessing because we wouldn't want to hurt a business........

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max skinner's avatar

It's all wink and nod. Employee produces papers that are false, employer takes out FICA taxes. Or the employer just pays cash...no paperwork. I suspect if the Ag folks were to be honest, they would admit that they wish those who make a lot of noise over undocumented immigration would just shut up. It's interfering with the way they conduct business.

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Margaret Park's avatar

Look into it. It takes years and a lot of paperwork. If you are fleeing criminal activity which many of them are, you really don't have time to work through it. And yes, our immigration laws need a complete reorganization.

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JL's avatar

Looking into it, I find a conclusion that fit the times: If you don't get caught it's okay. True for the one here illegally, true for the one employing them.

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Gregory Allen's avatar

Let's see. Staffing at the IRS is to be cut in half and a large swath of the remainder is ordered to track down tax paying undocumented immigrants? Called for by the guy who said in 2016 that he'd knows the tax system better then anyone because he's the best at abusing it? Nothing at all super suspicious here!

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Gregory Allen's avatar

Ummm. I remember reading decades ago that mobsters actually DO pay their taxes and those returns could NOT be used against them. Possibly this has changed but I doubt it. We really do live in an upside down world.

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J AZ's avatar

Al Capone (where have we heard that name lately? 😊), John Gotti - certainly some infamous mobsters were convicted on tax offenses. Also "celebrities" like Pete Rose and Leona Helmsley. Over the years as money laundering got more sophisticated it may be easier to appear to be paying one's taxes... but mobsters may not report ALL their income, capiche?

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Gregory Allen's avatar

Yes but several decades ago (so it may have been changed since but I don't think so) in a Time magazine article they explained how the IRS required criminals to pay their taxes and that those tax returns would NOT be used against him.(because self incriminations is Constitutionally considered bad?) This is why Dems, when they had control of the House, couldn't demand Trump's and others' tax returns. The IRS statutorially couldn't give them up. All the people you mentioned were caught before this policy was in place or they had bad (or not bad enough) tax lawyers which is why they were considered stupid for getting caught stiffing the IRS.

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ChattyLion's avatar

If they have a W2 the IRS already knows who and where they are. At those income levels, if they don't file, they most likely are giving up a refund. I suppose failing to file could at least avoid confirming their address or something. If the choice is between filing and getting deported and not filing and facing potential IRS penalties or criminal charges, I can see how it would be highly tempting to roll the dice on failure to file. As Trump/Musk/DOGE guts the IRS, there won't be any IRS employees left to enforce the tax laws anyway.

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Ollie Parks's avatar

A person who is an employee on a payroll has taxes deducted from his paycheck. If all his income is reported on a W2, not filing a tax return isn't going to deprive the Treasury of his tax payments. Treasury already has the money.

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Douglas Paul Truhlar's avatar

As a former employer I would say your right, they don’t (rich folk) want to put that matching amount in to the SSA.

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Lauren's avatar

Terrific piece. I was on the fence about a paid subscription, and this tipped the balance. Keep up the great work.

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J AZ's avatar

Lauren - Welcome to this fan club! We can learn more about details of immigration issues in any ONE of Adrian's articles than in a month of NYT or WaPo!

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Sue Dalling's avatar

The reason Trump wants to do this is because he is behind his number count of evicting migrants.

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J AZ's avatar

Sue - strange, huh? During campaign he said they would be easy to round up cuz cops know where the bad guys are. Same as he lied last night about the Social Security Numident file, going on & on about birthdates and ages, suggesting everyone who's ever been assigned an SS number is currently receiving checks in some vague fraud/waste/abuse. Same as immigration: if you've got the names & SS numbers of phony payments, why aren't you arresting anybody? DOJ, FBI - he's got all the levers of power if he actually had a shred of evidence. But no one seems to call him on that

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