Tax Returns Rise for Immigrants in U.S. Illegally

Thought this was an interesting article in the NY Times about an increase in the number of undocumented aliens paying income taxes. A lot of Americans assume that these people don't pay any taxes and just sponge off of society, but they forget that they all pay sales tax, and with the use of individual taxpayer numbers they can pay income taxes. People also forget that many of the services these populations utilize are for health care and schooling, which (in my eyes) takes a pretty big asshole to deny someone. Apparently, some link the rise to possible amnesty and other roads to citizenship that will require payment of taxes and back taxes. It's nice that when people see a road to citizenship they are encouraged to participate in the larger society.

In 2005 alone, more than $5 billion in tax liability — the total owed, including money withheld from paychecks during the year — was reported in the 2.9 million returns that listed at least one person with an ITIN, she said. And between 1996 and 2003, such filers reported nearly $50 billion of tax liability.