A new report by Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and co-released in New York by the Fiscal Policy Institute shows that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program contribute two billion dollars nationwide in combined state and local tax revenue per year. In New York, DACA recipients add $140 million in state and local tax revenues with an effective tax rate of 10.7 percent. DACA allows young immigrants who arrived to the United States as children to register with the government for a temporary work authorization and driver’s license, as well as protection from deportation, which they must renew every 2 years. If DACA were to be repealed, as President Trump said he would, New York would lose nearly $56 million in tax revenues.
“Within the last year, immigration policy has become a far more divisive political issue with public discourse often overlooking the tremendous economic, fiscal and societal contributions of immigrants, and in particular young immigrants,” said Meg Wiehe, deputy director of ITEP.
“New Yorkers can [be] proud of these young immigrants who are graduating from our high schools, going to college, serving in the military, paying taxes,” said David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Fiscal Policy Institute’s Immigration Research Initiative. “The idea of terrifying these young people and their families by making them a deportation priority sends all the wrong messages to our kids, to their teachers, to immigrants, and to employers. The federal immigration system is broken, and this program is an interim measure to protect young immigrants who make a real contribution to our society.”
