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Undocumented immigrants pay more taxes than President Trump

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Rachel Rhodes

On Sunday, the New York Times revealed findings related to President Trump's taxes, including that President Trump paid very little in federal income taxes over the course of the past 10-15 years, and in some years paid nothing. 


Stephen Yale-Loehr

Professor of immigration law

Steve Yale-Loehr, professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School and co-author of a leading 21-volume immigration law series, compares what Trump paid in taxes with what undocumented immigrants pay.

Yale-Loehr says:

 “The New York Times reported yesterday that President Trump only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, and nothing at all in 10 of the prior 15 years.  Compare that to immigrants.

“Immigrants have to pay the same taxes as U.S. citizens, even if they are undocumented.  Failure to do so may lead to deportation.  

“Immigrants, both documented and undocumented, paid an estimated $328 billion in state, federal, and local taxes in 2014 alone. And the estimated 4.5 million people with Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs), which are available only to noncitizens, paid $23.6 billion in total taxes in 2015.

“It is outrageous that the average undocumented immigrant in the United States pays more in federal income taxes than the President did in 2016.”

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