Did College Park really just allow non-citizens the right to vote?
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Anonymous
How can the bolded possibly be news to you? Have you been living under a rock? Undocumented immigrants pay sales taxes just like you and me. Since they are frequently lower income than the average DCUM poster, and sales tax is regressive, they pay, on average, a higher percentage of their income in sales tax than you probably do. Undocumented immigrants live in housing, so they either pay rent, a portion of which goes towards property tax, or they own and pay property tax. Same as you and me. Undocumented immigrants pay income tax, but often aren't able to get refunds, so again, they pay at a higher rate than most citizens or green card holders with similar jobs. |
Anonymous
| Certainly national citizenship should not be a requirement to vote in local elections. Proof of residency should be enough. |
Anonymous
As the Latino immigrant in the article below says, "it is a slap in the face" to those who obeyed our laws in coming to our country. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/college-park-decides-to-allow-noncitizens-to-vote-in-local-elections/2017/09/13/2b7adb4a-987b-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html?utm_term=.328563ec1a1f |
Anonymous
You're stretching with the sales tax argument and the rent/property tax argument. And as far as paying income tax, what percentage of them do - and how, if not for stolen SS numbers? Plenty of day laborer and under-the-table wages. Why should they get a full vote compared to the honest, law-abiding citizens who pays their FULL share of taxes? |
Anonymous
| So how can they identify foreign tourist visitors from undocumented immigrants? Do they require something to be shown now? They don't even require you to show an ID to vote! |
Anonymous
Do you not know how income taxes work? If someone is paying income tax using a fake SS number, they cannot, and do not, file a return. They can't take advantage of any of the deductions you and I use, or collect any refund they are owed, so they end up paying more in taxes than required. In what universe is this not paying "their FULL share or taxes?" With respect to sales and property tax, how is that is stretch? Please explain. I look forward to it. |
Anonymous
Your ignorance is showing. Have you heard of tax ID number? It's a 9-digit number the IRS give to anyone so it can collect taxes. Yeah, uncle Sam gets its share of the money but these people will never get anything back in return ( no refund, benefits, etc...) |
Anonymous
We pay $14,000 per kid to educate their offspring. That's a lot more than they pay in taxes. It's a net gain for them, and a net loss to real Americans. |
Anonymous
I have legitimate questions because this is not something I've looked into... How do undocumented immigrants "get away" with getting an official paycheck? Is it by stealing SSNs? And if this is the case, couldn't they just complete their W4 so that the absolute minimum of income tax is withheld, thus negating the need for a refund? |
Anonymous
They can actually apply for an ITIN from the IRS to pay their taxes. More information here: http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/19/news/economy/undocumented-immigrant-taxes/index.html Yes, I assume they might minimize withholdings, but there's still other payroll taxes that can't be minimized other than income tax: FICA (Social Security and Medicare), as well as state unemployment tax. Unemployment & workers comp insurance is paid by the employer, but it's likely that an illegal immigrant would never claim it, so that's also money that is being contributed by immigrant labor. |
Anonymous
Immigrants pay billions in taxes in Maryland: "In Maryland, households headed by undocumented immigrants paid $275,172,882 in taxes; which included $75,979,518 in personal income taxes, $22,113,794 in property taxes, and $177,079,570 in sales taxes." I'm not sure exactly how that measures up to the amount of services they receive, but generally it's understood that immigrants are a net positive on state economies. https://www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/MD-2013-Talking-Points-Taxes.pdf http://www.budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2016/1/27/the-effects-of-immigration-on-the-united-states-economy |
Anonymous
NP. Nobody gets a refund of SS or medicare taxes, so that's irrelevant. |
Anonymous
What about healthcare costs? |
Anonymous
It's relevant. The PP was suggesting that immigrants don't actually pay any taxes because they'd logically minimize their withholding. My answer was that there are still a lot of taxes that they can't minimize because there are no refunds. In addition, they may not get the tax credits they're eligible for (child tax mainly). |
Anonymous
Like I said, the research shows that immigrants are a net positive on the economy. I don't have breakdown for you. Old people consume a lot more in health care than young people. Should they be denied the right to vote? Obviously, the amount of taxes a person pays vs public resources they receive cannot be the basis of deciding whether they get a vote ... |