Full Citation
Title: State and Local Fiscal Effects of Immigration
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2017
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Abstract: Understanding the contribution of immigrants to state and local finances is important when considering the economic growth and fiscal health of communities. The fiscal impacts of immigrants and natives at the state and local level depend on the balance between their contribution to revenues by paying taxes and their draw on expenditures by consuming public services. We found the following. The net fiscal effects for 2011-13 were largely related to how we measured and attributed the costs of government services, particularly how we allocated the costs of public goods that do not increase with new entrants to the population. Fiscal impacts at the state and local level varied across place depending on the demographic characteristics of immigrants and native adults, with their relative numbers of dependent children (and their associated education costs) having the most effect. Relative fiscal impacts also relate to state and local decisions on how they raise revenues (their tax system) and what level of spending they choose for specific services. Because public education makes up the largest part of state and local budgets, these costs explained much of the differences across places when we attributed the costs of educating children to their parents. However, these costs are an investment in the future, contributing to the skills and abilities of our future labor force, and estimates for a point in time do not capture students' future tax contributions.
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Authors: Rueben, Kim; Gault, Sarah
Publisher: Urban Institute
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Education, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Migration and Immigration
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