Overview
- New Cato Institute analysis estimates immigrants paid more in taxes than they received in benefits, producing a $14.5 trillion net surplus from 1994 to 2023.
- The report projects undocumented immigrants reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion over the period, while noting the data were not fully disaggregated by legal status.
- The authors say public debt would exceed 200% of GDP without immigrants’ contributions over the past three decades.
- The study draws on National Academies models and Census data, finding that in 2023 immigrants were 14.7% of the population but 17.3% of taxes, 17.4% of income, and over 18% of workers.
- Policy context includes CBO estimates that extending certain tax provisions could add up to $5.5 trillion to the debt and that roughly 290,000 removals through 2029 would shrink the labor force, while Cato estimates large-scale removals could cost about $900 billion.