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A comment on Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants. Parent comment

Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by DanBC on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:04PM (#13242210)
Undocumented workers still pay tax.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_illegal_imm...

> The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a report in February 2016, stating that 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are paying annually an estimated amount of $11.64 billion in state and local taxes, "on average an estimated 8 percent of their incomes."[25]

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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by SilasX on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:23PM (#13242300)
Yes, they pay sales tax. Not income or FICA.
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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by jacalata on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:28PM (#13242325)
A significant number of undocumented workers use a fake SSN for their job so they do pay income taxes and FICA - but can never claim tax refunds, earned income credit, or their social security credits - http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/oct/02/...
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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by SilasX on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:35PM (#13242367)
Fair enough, but the parent was quoting their total payment (not just payroll) as 8% of their income, which is still an extreme underpayment, and equivalent to the case where they are only paying sales taxes.

That doesn't mean "yup, close the border", but we should still be careful about distinguishing the issues: yes, immigration may be below the optimal level, but it doesn't follow that illegal immigration is unproblematic in this respect.

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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by thescribe on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:40PM (#13242395)
I was under the impression it can be a massive pain if an illegal immigrant pays taxes with your stolen SSN?
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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by throwaw12ay on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:48PM (#13242422)
isn't it a felony to use a stolen SSN? there is no such thing as a fake SSN.
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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by dragonwriter on Thursday December 22, 2016 @10:50PM (#13242696)
I've known people who had been in the US as undocumented workers. When they were, they paid state and federal income and payroll tax, and, as a bonus, had no expectation of ever being able to use the programs funded by payroll tax.
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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by nodesocket on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:12PM (#13242257)
That can't be right. According to the Wall Street Journal [1] there is a total of 11 million illegal immigrants in the US as a whole.

[1] - http://www.wsj.com/articles/number-of-illegal-immigrants-in-...

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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by cryptarch on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:17PM (#13242275)
Estimates range from 11 to 16 million illegal immigrants, though a few years ago the highest one was at 20 million.
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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by nodesocket on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:22PM (#13242298)
So you're really telling me on the high end 100% of illegal immigrants pay taxes and on the low end 68% do?
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Re:Palantir helps authorities track illegal immigrants by cryptarch on Thursday December 22, 2016 @09:49PM (#13242425)
Pretty much, yes. It's a lot harder to avoid the IRS than Immigration Services, and AFAIK the IRS doesn't give a shit as long as you pay your taxes.
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