25 Mar 2013
Legalization Would Boost Economy by $1.4 Trillion: Study
"Attention Congress: A partial solution to improving the economy may actually be buried within another political battle all together. Granting undocumented immigrants immediate citizenship would add $1.4 trillion to economic growth, increase tax revenues by $184 billion and create 203,000 jobs over the next decade, according to a new study from the Center for American Progress. "Unauthorized immigrants are currently earning far less than their potential, paying much less in taxes, and contributing significantly less to the U.S. economy than they potentially could,” authors Robert Lynch and Patrick Oakford explain in the report. Within five years of earning citizenship, an undocumented worker would make 25.1 percent more annually, Lynch, the Everett E. Nuttle professor and chair of the Department of Economics at Washington College, told The Huffington Post. These wage gains "ripple through the economy" as immigrants use their income to stimulate the economy and pay taxes, he writes in the report." - Caroline Fairchild, Mar. 22, 2013.