Bill O’Reilly and the infamous Lou Dobbs took yet another stab at immigrants on the March 9th episode of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. The segment was in response to the bill Senators Lindsey Graham (R) and Charles Schumer (D) have been working on, which would require every working American to obtain a tamper-proof national ID card. In short, this ID card would contain a sample of each card holder’s DNA, an attempt to prevent undocumented immigrants from using others’ social security numbers to work. O’Reilly and Dobbs proceeded to state how these cards would benefit the American job market and overall economy. They then bashed the ACLU and “all those unconditional amnesty advocates” for falsely claiming that immigrants do in fact pay taxes.
The last time I checked they DO pay taxes! Immigrants, documented or not, pay sales taxes. Everyone who buys anything pays sales taxes. Many undocumented immigrants end up paying income and social security taxes as well, because they use social security cards from people they know; whether it be family members, friends, or strangers whom they pay a fee to borrow their number.
According to a paper released by the Congressional Budget Office in late 2007:
The IRS estimates that about 6 million unauthorized immigrants file individual income tax returns each year. Other researchers estimate that between 50 percent and 75 percent of unauthorized immigrants pay federal, state, and local taxes.
So Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, and Lou Dobbs, please check your information before you go around telling lies that continue to perpetuate hatred towards our communities. We are peaceful loving people who will continually refuse to be victims of intolerance and ignorance.
By Krystal Chan, Development and Communications Intern
I not only agree with Krystal, but would add one more point. Of those immigrants that pay income tax by using fake social security cards, the great majority of them do not claim their taxes for either ignorance, fear or both. I do not approve of people using fake social security cards, but we must take a look at the reality of our Nation. We must strive to better our communities by providing the right solutions to the problems we face.
Yes I agree that they do not claim their taxes out of fear and/or ignorance. You also suggest that we must provide the right solutions to these problems however, people have very different opinions about what the “right” solution is! If only the left and the right could reach some common ground