Since the New York Times reported that Donald Trump may have avoided paying federal income taxes for 18 years, the Republican presidential candidate has defended himself, saying he "brilliantly used" U.S. tax rules to his advantage to pay as little as legally possible. Over the years, Trump has consistently blasted others for not paying their fair share of taxes. Barack Obama, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and America's undocumented immigrants all found themselves in Trump's cross-hairs at one time or another regarding tax payments.
Trump has claimed that the latter group, undocumented immigrants, were getting $4.2 billion in tax credits, a statement that was later found to be misleading. In fact, America's undocumented immigrants likely pay more in taxes than Donald Trump. According to a report from The Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP), they pay a hefty amount of state and local tax, just like other people living in the United States. Collectively, America's undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $11.64 billion in state and local taxes every year with at least 50 percent of undocumented immigrant households filing tax returns using Individual Tax Identification Numbers.
Many who do not file tax returns still have taxes deducted from their pay checks. Out of that $11.64 billion total, undocumented immigrants pay $6.9 billion in sales and excise taxes, $3.6 billion in property taxes and about $1.1 billion in personal income taxes. ITEP estimated that if America's 11 million undocumented immigrants were granted citizenship allowing them to work legally, current state and tax contributions would be boosted by over $2.1 billion a year.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
