- 19 Mar 2004 17:02
#129587
Immigration.
How about the President's immigration policy. He recently announced that he would like to legalize most illegal aliens and essentially have unlimited legal immigration into this country.
This doesn't sound bad until you look at the facts. But the facts show this would be disastrous.
First, illegal immigrants consume far more in government services than they pay in taxes. This is an easy one to show. The services most immigrants use are no different than lower income Americans; education, health, roads and other infrastructure, police and fire. The list goes on.
With an average immigrant laborer making less than, let's say, $20,000 per year, they would be likely to pay around $2500 in income tax. Let's say the immigrant has two children (many immigrant families have more than 2 kids). With the cost of K-12 education running between seven and ten thousand dollars per year, taxpayers would have to spend at least $14,000 to educate this family's kids. It is easy to see that taxpayers are already behind $11,500 before other services are considered.
How about roads and other infrastructure. If you live in an urban area, traffic must be getting worse every year.
How much does it cost to build new freeways? I just typed "freeway construction cost" into google and up came articles suggesting $30 million to $65 million per mile. Is it realistic to believe that the U.S. taxpayer is going to afford new freeway construction to accommodate millions of new drivers who essentially pay very little income tax?
Healthcare is no different. Here in Los Angeles many hospitals have gone out of business or shut emergency rooms. By law they must treat everyone who shows up at the emergency room whether or not they have health insurance. Why do you think our health insurance premiums are increasing at 16% a year.
It is easy to see that the U.S. taxpayer can not afford unlimited immigration as the President is proposing.
How about the President's immigration policy. He recently announced that he would like to legalize most illegal aliens and essentially have unlimited legal immigration into this country.
This doesn't sound bad until you look at the facts. But the facts show this would be disastrous.
First, illegal immigrants consume far more in government services than they pay in taxes. This is an easy one to show. The services most immigrants use are no different than lower income Americans; education, health, roads and other infrastructure, police and fire. The list goes on.
With an average immigrant laborer making less than, let's say, $20,000 per year, they would be likely to pay around $2500 in income tax. Let's say the immigrant has two children (many immigrant families have more than 2 kids). With the cost of K-12 education running between seven and ten thousand dollars per year, taxpayers would have to spend at least $14,000 to educate this family's kids. It is easy to see that taxpayers are already behind $11,500 before other services are considered.
How about roads and other infrastructure. If you live in an urban area, traffic must be getting worse every year.
How much does it cost to build new freeways? I just typed "freeway construction cost" into google and up came articles suggesting $30 million to $65 million per mile. Is it realistic to believe that the U.S. taxpayer is going to afford new freeway construction to accommodate millions of new drivers who essentially pay very little income tax?
Healthcare is no different. Here in Los Angeles many hospitals have gone out of business or shut emergency rooms. By law they must treat everyone who shows up at the emergency room whether or not they have health insurance. Why do you think our health insurance premiums are increasing at 16% a year.
It is easy to see that the U.S. taxpayer can not afford unlimited immigration as the President is proposing.