Undocumented Immigrants in Oklahoma Paid $227.5m in Taxes in 2022, Study Finds
Undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma paid $227.5 million in state and local taxes in 2022, according to recent research by a nonprofit, nonpartisan tax policy organization.
According to the Washington, DC-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, approximately 89,000 unauthorized immigrants paid taxes in Oklahoma.
According to the study, sales and excise taxes totaled $122 million, with property taxes accounting for $49 million. According to the report, personal or business income taxes accounted for an additional $51 million.
According to Gabriela Ramirez-Perez, an immigration policy analyst at the Oklahoma Policy Institute, the state estimates do not include the contributions made by unauthorized immigrants to Social Security and Medicare.
“And that is what makes these contributions all the more significant, because they’re helping fund Social Security and Medicare … while being barred from receiving benefits themselves,” she told the audience.
Furthermore, unauthorized immigrants are ineligible for food stamps, but their children who are citizens of the United States are eligible, according to Ramirez-Perez.
They also do not have access to a variety of tax credits, including the earned income tax credit, she added.
She stated that genuine policy taxes take a backseat to politics.
“As our state leaders continue discussions about policies that impact immigrants, we must start by recognizing how deeply immigrants are interconnected in our communities broadly,” according to Ramirez-Perez. “For decades, undocumented immigrants have made Oklahoma their home, raised families, paid taxes, worked essential jobs, cared for our loved ones, and made our communities stronger.”
Marco Guzman, a senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, co-authored the paper.
Undocumented immigrants in Oklahoma paid an average tax rate of 8.9%, which was higher than the top percentile. They paid an effective rate of 6.4%, he explained.
“They don’t have access to certain exemptions,” he told me.
While the survey does not go into detail about undocumented immigrants’ jobs, research reveals that many labor in fields that Americans do not want to work in, he said.
The report states that unauthorized immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and municipal taxes in 2022.
Six states earned more than $1 billion from unauthorized immigrants, including California ($8.5 billion) and Texas ($4.9 billion), according to the research. “In total, the tax contribution of undocumented immigrants amounted to 26.1 percent of their incomes in 2022,” according to the research study.
The research comes as states such as Oklahoma and Texas look to crack down on illegal immigration. A federal court has suspended a contentious Oklahoma immigration law pending the result of a legal appeal.
The legislation aims to establish a new criminal for knowingly entering the state without permission.
Those found guilty of “impermissible occupation” may face fines, imprisonment, or be ordered to leave the state within 72 hours.